Accurate estimation of Li/Ni mixing degree of lithium nickel oxide cathode materials

Li/Ni mixing negatively influences the discharge capacity of lithium nickel oxide and high-nickel ternary cathode materials.However,accurately measuring the Li/Ni mixing degree is difficult due to the preferred orientation of labbased XRD measurements using Bragg–Brentano geometry.Here,we find that employing spherical harmonics in Rietveld refinement to eliminate the preferred orientation can significantly decrease the measurement error of the Li/Ni mixing ratio.The Li/Ni mixing ratio obtained from Rietveld refinement with spherical harmonics shows a strong correlation with discharge capacity,which means the electrochemical capacity of lithium nickel oxide and high-nickel ternary cathode can be estimated by the Li/Ni mixing degree.Our findings provide a simple and accurate method to estimate the Li/Ni mixing degree,which is valuable to the structural analysis and screening of the synthesis conditions of lithium nickel oxide and high-nickel ternary cathode materials.