Thermal plasma synthesis towards upscaling of multi-cation lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide cathodes

The volatility of lithium during high-temperature sintering restricts the synthesis techniques and precursors available for large-scale production of lithium-based materials. This limitation results in a multistep process, reduced control over final product parameters, and increased costs. The primary aim of this work is to develop a streamlined production methodology for synthesizing Li Ni Mn Co oxide cathodes with fewer steps while quantifying their performance. Thermal Plasma Spray Pyrolysis (TPSP) is a robust technique for the large-scale industrial production of single-cation oxide nanomaterials. In this study, TPSP is employed to synthesize lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (Mn rich Li-Ni-Mn-Co oxide with 262 composition), a multi-cation positive electrode material in minimal step. The optimized TPSP method enables the production of Mn rich lithium Ni-Mn-Co (262) oxide powder at a rate of 2 g min⁻¹, achieving the desired phase purity. Comprehensive structural, morphological, and elemental analyses confirm the material's phase purity, uniformity, narrow size distribution, and accurate stoichiometry. The synthesized Li-rich NM_rC, with 5 % excess lithium, exhibited stable performance, delivering discharge capacity of 176 mAh g⁻¹. The prepared Mn rich lithium Ni-Mn-Co (262) oxide positive electrode shows an average capacity loss of only 5 % after 50 cycles at a C/10 charge-discharge rate.