Toward the Potential Scale‐Up of Sn_0.9Mn_0.1O₂‖LiNi_0.6Mn_0.2Co_0.2O₂ Li‐Ion Batteries – Powering a Remote‐Controlled Vehicle and Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

chemistry, i.e., neither the active material for the negative and positive electrode, nor the electrolyte composition or other cell components. Especially with regard to the positive electrode, several materials have been commercialized, including LiCoO 2 (LCO, the very first active material for the positive electrode in LIBs), [8] LiNi 1-x-y Mn x Co y O 2 (NMC), LiNi 0.8 Co 0.15 Al 0.05 O 2 (NCA), as well as LiFePO 4 (LFP), while others such as LiNi 0.5 Mn 1.5 O 4 (LNMO) have reached a rather mature development stage already. [1,2] For the negative electrode, though, the choice of commercial active materials is essentially limited to (natural or synthetic) graphite -potentially with a minor fraction of Si or SiO x , and in a few cases also Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 as high-power, long lifetime alternative (but at the expense of a substantially lower energy density). [2,9] An alternative commercialized active material that has provided a superior energy density, is a composite of tin, cobalt, and carbon. [10] Nevertheless, this anode chemistry was ultimately commercially unviable due to the lack of availability and high cost of cobalt, the challenging synthesis, and the rather short cycle life of cells. [11][12][13][14] At the same time, further optimization of graphite-based negative electrodes appears very limited, motivating the search for alternatives that provide enhanced energy and power density, while simultaneously ensuring safe operation of the battery cell. [3,[15][16][17][18] A rather recently proposed class of Academic research in the battery field frequently remains limited to small coin or pouch cells, especially for new materials that are still rather far from commercialization, which renders a meaningful evaluation at an early stage of development challenging. Here, the realization of large lab-scale pouch cells comprising Sn 0.9 Mn 0.1 O 2 (SMO), prepared via an easily scalable hydrothermal synthesis method, as an alternative active material for the negative electrode and LiNi 0.6 Mn 0.2 Co 0.2 O 2 (NMC 622 ) as a commercially available active material for the positive electrode is reported. Nine double-layer pouch cells are connected in series and parallel, suitable for powering a remotecontrolled vehicle. Subsequently, these SMO‖NMC 622 cells are critically evaluated by means of an early-stage life cycle assessment and compared to graphite‖NMC 622 cells, in order to get first insights into the potential advantages and challenges of such lithium-ion chemistry.