Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers have developed a new family of cobalt-free cathodes with the potential to replace the cobalt-based cathodes typically found in today’s lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and consumer electronics. Called NFA—for nickel, iron and aluminum—the new class is a derivative of lithium nickelate and can be used to make lithium-ion battery cathodes. These novel cathodes are designed to be fast-charging, energy-dense, cost-effective, and longer-lasting. Papers on the work are published in Advanced Materials and the Journal of Power Sources . Electrochemical performance evaluations revealed that our cobalt-free material delivers high capacity of 190 mAh/g at 0.1C. Rate and cycling performance evaluations also indicated good rate capability and cycling stability with 88% capacity retention after 100 cycles at C/3. Using NFA cathodes, we also fabricated a 0.5Ah (C/3) cobalt-free Li-ion battery which demonstrated reasonable cycling stability with ~72% capacity retained after 200 cycles. Overall, […]