During the charging and discharging of lithium-ion-battery cathodes through the de- and reintercalation of lithium ions, electroneutrality is maintained by transition-metal redox chemistry, which limits the charge that can be stored. However, for some transition-metal oxides this limit can be broken and oxygen loss and/or oxygen redox reactions have been proposed to explain the phenomenon. We present operando mass spectrometry of (18)O-labelled Li1.2[Ni0.13(2+)Co0.13(3+)Mn0.54(4+)]O2, which demonstrates that oxygen is extracted from the lattice on charging a Li1.2[Ni0.13(2+)Co0.13(3+)Mn0.54(4+)]O2 cathode, although we detected no O2 evolution. Combined soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy, resonant inelastic X-ray scattering spectroscopy, X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy demonstrates that, in addition to oxygen loss, Li(+) removal is charge compensated by the formation of localized electron holes on O atoms coordinated by Mn(4+) and Li(+) ions, which serve to promote the localization, and not the formation, of true O2(2-) (peroxide, O-O ~1.45 Å) species. The quantity of charge compensated by oxygen removal and by the formation of electron holes on the O atoms is estimated, and for the case described here the latter dominates.

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The search for improved energy-storage materials has revealed Li- and Na-rich intercalation compounds as promising high-capacity cathodes. They exhibit capacities in excess of what would be expected from alkali-ion removal/reinsertion and charge compensation by transition-metal (TM) ions. The additional capacity is provided through charge compensation by oxygen redox chemistry and some oxygen loss. It has been reported previously that oxygen redox occurs in O 2p orbitals that interact with alkali ions in the TM and alkali-ion layers (that is, oxygen redox occurs in compounds containing Li-O(2p)-Li interactions). Na[MgMn]O exhibits an excess capacity and here we show that this is caused by oxygen redox, even though Mg resides in the TM layers rather than alkali-metal (AM) ions, which demonstrates that excess AM ions are not required to activate oxygen redox. We also show that, unlike the alkali-rich compounds, Na[MgMn]O does not lose oxygen. The extraction of alkali ions from the alkali and TM layers in the alkali-rich compounds results in severely underbonded oxygen, which promotes oxygen loss, whereas Mg remains in Na[MgMn]O, which stabilizes oxygen.

Conventional intercalation cathodes for lithium batteries store charge in redox reactions associated with the transition metal cations, e.g., Mn(3+/4+) in LiMn2O4, and this limits the energy storage of Li-ion batteries. Compounds such as Li[Li0.2Ni0.2Mn0.6]O2 exhibit a capacity to store charge in excess of the transition metal redox reactions. The additional capacity occurs at and above 4.5 V versus Li(+)/Li. The capacity at 4.5 V is dominated by oxidation of the O(2-) anions accounting for ∼0.43 e(-)/formula unit, with an additional 0.06 e(-)/formula unit being associated with O loss from the lattice. In contrast, the capacity above 4.5 V is mainly O loss, ∼0.08 e(-)/formula. The O redox reaction involves the formation of localized hole states on O during charge, which are located on O coordinated by (Mn(4+)/Li(+)). The results have been obtained by combining operando electrochemical mass spec on (18)O labeled Li[Li0.2Ni0.2Mn0.6]O2 with XANES, soft X-ray spectroscopy, resonant inelastic X-ray spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. Finally the general features of O redox are described with discussion about the role of comparatively ionic (less covalent) 3d metal-oxygen interaction on anion redox in lithium rich cathode materials.

A new high performance cathode material for Li-ion batteries with a disordered rocksalt structure powered by manganese and oxygen redox.