Leading the charge on cobalt-free lithium-rich layered oxide cathode materials

Cobalt-based cathode materials have been the mainstay of lithium-ion batteries, though concerns associated with sustainability remain unresolved. A major target is to move to cobalt-free cathode materials, especially in the form of high-capacity lithium-rich layered oxides. This academic and industrial challenge has been the focus of CATMAT project researchers at the University of Birmingham.

Researchers moved beyond the commonly studied low cobalt materials such as Li_1.2Mn0_.54Ni_0.13Co_0.13O2 and are developing a new low-cost, cobalt-free, lithium-rich compound. This material has been evaluated in commercially relevant singlelayer pouch cells and has demonstrated a high cathode specific capacity of 249 mAh/g and a nominal cell voltage of 3.46V. Using modelling software and projecting the data into a larger multi-layer pouch cell design, the material is expected to enable a high cell level gravimetric energy density of 316 Wh/ kg, exceeding that of cobalt-based materials which reach 200-250 Wh/kg at cell level. Future lithiumion batteries containing this material may therefore exceed certain performance metrics of today’s conventional commercial lithium-ion batteries.

University of Birmingham researchers have further improved the material through particle-level structural engineering. Tin and boron-based coatings have been developed to mitigate the capacity fade issue commonly observed in lithium-rich cathode materials. The optimised material delivers lower cost per kWh and reduced supply chain risk compared to alternative low cobalt lithium-rich materials. Researchers have positioned this new material as a contender for industrial scale-up.

Image: An image of transmission electron microscope images and elemental maps of primary particles of the new cobalt-free lithium-rich material, highlighting the high crystallinity and homogeneous elemental distribution across the particle.  

Case study published December 2025.