New Olivine-Based Cathode Materials

Olivine-type lithium transition metal orthosilicates, considered as promising cathode materials for the next-generation lithium-ion batteries, have attracted considerable interest in recent year. This is due to their low cost, good safety, and high theoretical capacity. However, great challenges still remain regarding their relatively low practical capacity, phase instability during charge/discharge, and low electronic conductivity. Here, combining data mining with state-of-the-art first-principles calculations, we present a comprehensive study of new olivine-based materials that can meet the above challenges and serve as ideal candidates for cathode materials of next-generation batteries.