Operando studies of cathode materials with antiperovskite structure

The aim of this proposal is to study a new class of cathode materials for Li-ion batteries (LIBs): disordered antiperovskites (APs). Specifically, Li2MnSeO and Li2FeSeO are of particular interest due to simplicity of preparation and abundancy of elements. Our preliminary experiments indicated that Li2MnSeO shows high working potential while Li2FeSeO provides high capacity. However, further improvements of these materials are impeded by the lack of understanding of their mechanism during electrochemical cycling in LIB. As the structure evolution upon cycling can be elucidated by the combination of ex situ and operando measurements, we expect to gain deeper insights into the de/lithiation mechanism of AP cathodes.