is one of the high-energy positive electrode (cathode) materials for next generation Li-ion batteries. However, compared to the structurally similar LiNi 1/3 Mn 1/3 Co 1/3 O 2 (NMC111), it can suffer from a shorter lifetime due to its higher surface reactivity. This work studied and compared the formation of surface contaminations on NMC811 and NMC111 when stored under ambient conditions using electrochemical cycling, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. NMC811 was found to develop a surface layer of up to ∼10 nm thickness that was mostly composed of nickel carbonate species mixed with minor quantities of hydroxide and water after ambient storage for 1 year, while no significant changes were observed on the NMC111 surface. The amount of carbonate species was quantified by gas chromatographic (GC) detection of carbon dioxide generated when the NMC particles were dispersed in hydrochloric acid. Surface impurity species formed on NMC811 upon ambient storage not only lead to a significant delithiation voltage peak in the first charge, but also markedly reduce the cycling stability of NMC811-graphite cells due to significantly growing polarization of the NMC811 electrode.

The (electro)­chemical reactions between positive electrodes and electrolytes are not well understood. We examined the oxidation of a LiPF6-based electrolyte with ethylene carbonate (EC) with layered lithium nickel, manganese, and cobalt oxides (NMC). Density functional theory calculations showed that the driving force for EC dehydrogenation on oxides, yielding surface protic species, increased with greater Ni content in NMC. Ex situ infrared and Raman spectroscopy revealed experimental evidence for EC dehydrogenation on charged NMC surfaces. Protic species on charged NMC surfaces from EC dehydrogenation could further react with LiPF6 to generate less-coordinated F species such as PF3O-like and lithium nickel oxyfluoride species on charged NMC particles and HF and PF2O2 – in the electrolyte. Larger degree of salt decomposition was coupled with increasing EC dehydrogenation on charged NMC with increasing Ni or lithium deintercalation. An oxide-mediated chemical oxidation of electrolytes was proposed, providing new insights in stabilizing high-energy positive electrodes and improving Li-ion battery cycle life.

Understanding electrochemical and chemical reactions at the electrode-electrolyte interface is of fundamental importance for the safety and cycle life of Li-ion batteries. Positive electrode materials such as layered transition metal oxides exhibit different degrees of chemical reactivity with commonly used carbonate-based electrolytes. Here we employed density functional theory methods to compare the energetics of four different chemical reactions between ethylene carbonate (EC) and layered (LiMO) and rocksalt (MO) oxide surfaces. EC dissociation on layered oxides was found energetically more favorable than nucleophilic attack, electrophilic attack, and EC dissociation with oxygen extraction from the oxide surface. In addition, EC dissociation became energetically more favorable on the oxide surfaces with transition metal ions from left to right on the periodic table or by increasing transition metal valence in the oxides, where higher degree of EC dissociation was found as the Fermi level was lowered into the oxide O 2p band.

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Late transition metal phosphides have been reported to have high activity for catalyzing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), yet their active site and stability are not well-understood. Here we report systematic activity and stability study of CoP for HER by combining electrochemical measurements for CoP nanoparticles (NPs) with exsituand in situsynchrotron X-ray absorption (XAS) spectroscopy at phosphorus and cobalt K edges,as well asdensity functional theory (DFT) calculations. Colloidally synthesized CoP NPs showed high HER activity in both acid and base electrolytes,comparable to previous work, whereno significant pH dependence was observed. Transmission electron microscopyenergy dispersive spectroscopystudy of CoP NPs before and after exposure to potentials in the range from 0 to 1.4 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) revealed thatthe P/Co ratio reduced with increasing potential in the potentiostatic measurements prior to HER measurements. The reduced P/Co ratio was accompanied with the emergence of (oxy)phosphate(s) as revealed by XAS, and reducedspecific HER activity, suggesting the important role of P in catalyzing HER. This hypothesis was further supported by DFT calculations of HER on the most stable (011) surface of CoP and voltage dependent intensities of both phosphide and phosphate components from P-K edge X-ray spectroscopy. This work highlights the need of stabilizing metal phosphides and optimizing their surface P sites in order to realize the practical use of metal phosphides to catalyze HER in electrochemical and photoelectrochemical devices.