Passivated lithium nitride as cathode pre-lithiation reagent

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for passivating lithium nitride (LiN) for use in a lithium-ion battery as a cathode pre-lithiation reagent. In one example, the cathode pre-lithiation reagent may include a core particle composed of LiN, and a passivation coating uniformly disposed on at least a portion of a surface of the core particle. In some examples, the passivation coating may cover a majority of the surface of the core particle or may substantially completely cover the surface of the core particle. The cathode pre-lithiation reagent may further be included in the lithium-ion battery, where the passivation coating may mitigate unwanted side reactions during processing and manufacturing. In this way, LiN may be successfully and reproducibly utilized as a cathode pre-lithiation reagent, such that initial lithium ion consumption may be compensated and capacity of the lithium-ion battery may be concomitantly increased.