Addressing voltage decay in Li-rich cathodes by broadening the gap between metallic and anionic bands

Oxygen release and irreversible cation migration are the main causes of voltage fade in Li-rich transition metal oxide cathode. But their correlation is not very clear and voltage decay is still a bottleneck. Herein, we modulate the oxygen anionic redox chemistry by constructing Li₂ZrO₃ slabs into Li₂MnO₃ domain in Li_1.21Ni_0.28Mn_0.51O₂, which induces the lattice strain, tunes the chemical environment for redox-active oxygen and enlarges the gap between metallic and anionic bands. This modulation expands the region in which lattice oxygen contributes capacity by oxidation to oxygen holes and relieves the charge transfer from anionic band to antibonding metal-oxygen band under a deep delithiation. This restrains cation reduction, metal-oxygen bond fracture, and the formation of localized O₂ molecule, which fundamentally inhibits lattice oxygen escape and cation migration. The modulated cathode demonstrates a low voltage decay rate (0.45 millivolt per cycle) and a long cyclic stability.