Doped lithium-rich layered composite cathode materials

1. A layered composite composition having a general chemical formula of Li α-x AD x (Mn β-y-ε Al y Ni γ-ε Co δ-z AED z )O 2 wherein:

AD is an alkaline dopant selected from the group consisting of Na, K, Rb, Cs, and combinations thereof;

AED is an alkaline earth dopant selected from the group consisting of Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, and combinations thereof;

1≤α≤2;

0≤x<an alkaline dopant threshold concentration at and above which an alkaline-containing spinel phase is formed in the composition;

⅓≤β≤1;

0≤y<0.1;

0.0≤γ≤⅓;

0.0≤δ≤⅓;

0≤z, ε≤an alkaline earth threshold concentration at and above which an alkaline earth-containing spinel phase is formed in the composition; and

at least two of x, y, z, and ε are ≥0.001.

2. The layered composite composition of claim 1 , wherein x≤0.1, y≤0.1, z≤0.1, and ε≤0.1.

3. The layered composite composition of claim 2 , wherein x≥0.001, y≥0.001, z≥0.001, and ε are ≥0.001.

4. The layered composite composition of claim 1 , wherein:

1.0≤α≤1.5;

0.005≤x≤0.035;

⅓≤β≤⅔;

0.005≤y≤0.035;

0.10≤δ≤⅓;

0.005≤z≤0.035; and

0.005≤ε≤0.035.

5. The layered composite composition of claim 1 , wherein:

1.0≤α≤1.5;

0.010≤x≤0.030;

⅓≤β≤⅔,

0.010≤y≤0.030;

0.10≤δ≤⅓;

0.010≤z≤0.030; and

0.010≤ε≤0.030.

6. The layered composite composition of claim 1 , wherein:

AD is selected from the group consisting of Na, K, Rb, Cs, and combinations thereof; and

AED is selected from the group consisting of Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, and combinations thereof.

7. A metal oxide material comprising a plurality of mesoporous metal oxide secondary particles that comprise metal oxide primary particles, wherein the primary particles have a size that is in a range of about 1 nm to about 10 μm and the secondary particles have a size that is in a range of about 10 nm to about 100 μm, and wherein the metal oxide is the layered composite composition of claim 1 .

8. The metal oxide material of claim 7 , wherein the secondary particles have a sphericity of at least about 0.95, an inter-primary particle spacing that is in a range of about 2 nm to about 100 nm, and a Brunnauer-Emmett-Teller surface area that is in the range of about 1 m 2 /g to about 30 m 2 /g.

9. The metal oxide material of claim 7 , wherein the relative concentration of each element within any 1 micrometer region of the material does not vary more than about 4% from the mean and that the standard deviation throughout the material is no greater than about 4%.

10. The metal oxide material of claim 7 , wherein the primary particles have a mean size that is in the range of about 1 nm to about 500 nm and the secondary particles have a mean size that is in the range of about 0.1 μm to about 20 μm and the standard deviation with respect to the mean size for the secondary particles is in the range about 0 to about 10.

11. The metal oxide material of claim 7 , wherein the primary particles have a mean size that is in the range of about 500 nm to about 10 μm and the secondary particles have a mean size that is in the range of about 1 μm to about 100 μm and the standard deviation with respect to the mean size for the secondary particles is in the range about 0 to about 10.

12. A process for preparing the metal oxide material of claim 7 , the process comprising aerosolizing a precursor solution that comprises compounds that are precursors to the metal oxide in a solvent to form droplets that comprise the precursor solution; evaporating the solution in the droplets to form dried droplets that comprise the precursor compounds; calcining the dried droplets to form the metal oxide material that comprises a plurality of metal oxide secondary particles that comprise metal oxide primary particles.

13. The process of claim 12 , wherein the precursor solution has a concentration of precursor compounds that is up to about 10 mole/L.

14. The process of claim 12 , wherein the precursor compounds comprise nitrates of the metallic elements of the metal oxide.

15. The process of claim 12 , wherein the droplets are of a size that is in the range of about 0.1 μm to about 1000 μm.

16. The process of claim 12 further comprising annealing the metal oxide material to cause crystallite growth and coarsening in the metal oxide material and affect the crystal structure of the metal oxide material, wherein the primary particles of the annealed metal oxide material have a size that is in the range of about 1 nm to about 10 μm and the secondary particles of the annealed metal oxide material have a size that is in the range of about 10 nm to about 100 μm and are mesoporous.

17. The process of claim 16 , wherein the metal oxide material is annealed at a temperature within a range of about 300 to about 1000° C. for a duration that is within a range of about 30 minutes to about 48 hours.

18. The process of claim 16 further comprising cooling the annealed metal oxide material at a rate sufficiently slow so as to inhibit formation of defects in the metal oxide.

19. A metal oxide-containing material comprising a plurality of mesoporous, metal oxide-containing secondary particles with a non-hollow morphology and a mean size that is in a range of about 1 μm to about 15 μm, wherein the secondary particles comprise primary particles with a mean size that is in a range of about 50 nm to about 500 nm, and wherein the metal oxide is the layered composite composition of claim 1 .

20. The metal oxide-containing material of claim 19 , wherein the mean size of the secondary particles in a range of about 4 μm to about 10 μm, and the standard deviation with respect to the mean size for the secondary particles is in the range about 0 to about 10.

21. The metal oxide-containing material of claim 19 , wherein the secondary particles have an inter-primary particle spacing that is in the range of about 2 nm to about 100 nm.

22. The metal oxide-containing material of claim 19 , wherein the secondary particles have a Brunnauer-Emmett-Teller surface area that is in the range of about 1 m 2 /g to about 100 m 2 /g.

23. The metal oxide-containing material of claim 19 , wherein the relative concentration of each element within any 1 micrometer region of the material does vary more than about 1% from the mean and the standard deviation throughout the material is no greater than about 1%.

24. A process for preparing the metal oxide-containing material of claim 19 , the process comprising conducting spray pyrolysis that comprises:

a. aerosolizing a slurry that comprises solid-phase particles in a precursor solution to form droplets that comprise the precursor solution and one or more of the solid-phase particles, wherein (i) the solid-phase particles have a mean size that is in a range of about 10 nm and 50 μm, and (ii) the precursor solution comprises precursor compounds to the metal oxide that are dissolved in a solvent, and (iii) the slurry has a total mass fraction of solid-phase particles to metal oxide-containing material that is in a range of about 2% to about 75%;

b. evaporating the solvent in the droplets to form dried droplets that comprise the precursor compounds and one or more solid-phase particles; and

c. calcining the dried droplets to at least partially decompose the precursor compounds and form the metal oxide-containing material, wherein the metal oxide-containing material comprises product particles that comprise the metal oxide, wherein the product particles have (i) a mean size that is in a range of about 100 nm to about 500 μm and (ii) a mean hollowness, which is less than a mean hollowness of particles of about the same mean size prepared by an otherwise identical spray pyrolysis process conducted except for the absence of seed particles in the aerosol.

25. The process of claim 24 , wherein the mean size of the solid-phase particles is in the range of about 100 nm to about 15 μm, and the mean size of the product particles is in the range of about 500 nm to about 50 μm.

26. The process of claim 24 , wherein the mean hollowness of the product particles is less than about 60%.

27. The process of claim 24 , wherein the mean hollowness of the product particles is less than about 20%.

28. The process of claim 24 , wherein the solid-phase particles are selected from the group consisting of (i) decomposing solid-phase particles that have a composition that decomposes during the calcining, (ii) stable solid-phase particles that have a composition that does not substantially decompose during the calcining solid-phase particles, (iii) partially stable solid-phase particles that have a composition that comprises at least one compound that decomposes during the calcining and at least one different compound that does not substantially decompose during the calcining, and (iv) combinations thereof.

29. The process of claim 24 , wherein the calcining is conducted at a temperature that does not exceed the melting point of the metal oxide.

30. The process of claim 24 , wherein the solid-phase particles were produced by spray pyrolysis.

31. The process of claim 30 , wherein the solid-phase particles were ground after being produced by spray pyrolysis to alter the size distribution of the solid-phase particles.

32. The process of claim 24 , wherein the solid-phase particles have a non-hollow morphology.

33. The process of claim 24 , wherein the product particles further have a porous morphology.

34. The process of claim 24 further comprising annealing the product particles to further decompose the precursor compounds, cause crystallite growth, or both.

35. The process of claim 34 further comprising cooling the annealed product particles at a rate sufficiently slow so as to inhibit formation of defects in the metal oxide.

36. The process of claim 24 , wherein substantially all of the product particles have a substantially uniform composition.

37. The process of claim 24 , wherein substantially all of the product particles have a non-uniform composition, wherein the solid-phase particle portion(s) thereof are of a different composition than that of the metal oxide portion thereof.