Sustainable LiCoO(2) by collective glide of CoO(6) slabs upon charge/discharge

In pursuit of high-energy-density materials, layered LiCoO(2) has always drawn significant attention for Li-ion batteries (LIBs). Upon delithiation, LiCoO(2) usually suffers from deleterious CoO(6) slab glide, during which the emerging significant, but subtle, structural changes actually provide the necessary fundamentals to stabilize its high-energy-density feature, although it remains ambiguous. In this context, an unprecedented kinetic process of the CoO(6) slab is observed upon the delithiation of LiCoO(2). Such a behavior corresponds to a collective and quasi-continuous migration process of the CoO(6) slabs over a wide range of charge/discharge before the layered-to-rock-salt-phase transformation. By introducing a gradual angle, the movement of CoO(6) slabs can be precisely described with Li contents, which unlocks the door to elucidating the nanoscale electrode process dynamics as well as the atomic-scale design of layered electrodes for batteries.