Aqueous Solution-Gel Synthesis of Electrode Materials for Lithium and Sodium Ion Batteries: Ideal for Fast Screening?

An Hardy^a, Dries De Sloovere^a, Marlies K. Van Bael^a

^aUHasselt, Institute for Materials Research (IUMAT), Design and Synthesis of Inorganic Materials (DESINe), Martelarenlaan 42, B-3500 Hasselt, Belgium ; imec, IUMAT, Wetenschapspark 1, B-3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium; EnergyVille, IUMAT, Thor Park 8320, B-3600 Genk, Belgium

Proceedings of MATSUS Fall 2026 Conference (MATSUSFall26)

D7 High Throughput Electrode Synthesis and Manufacturing

Palma, Spain, 2026 October 26th - 30th

Organizers: Dries De Sloovere, Nadia Farag and Chengyin Fu

Invited Speaker, An Hardy, presentation 118
Publication date: 22nd July 2026

Energy storage is high in demand nowadays, for example to assist in avoiding peak prices of electricity (Kühlkraftkrise) or for sustaining GPU data centers. Two of the most important battery energy storage technologies today are lithium and sodium ion batteries. However, the criticality of battery raw materials, e.g. Li, Co,… and their health risks during processing and recycling are a persistent issue. Therefore, new materials consisting of abundant and (compositionally) non-toxic elements are important. Though novel materials compositions can be predicted in silico, development of their fabrication processes is largely still done by slow manual experimentation, because predictive synthesis and high throughput screening are comparatively underdeveloped.

An interesting synthesis method for screening purposes is the aqueous solution-gel route, which is based on citrate complexes as precursors. Such complexes exist for almost all relevant metal ions in the periodic system, making any thinkable metal oxide in theory easily accessible. Of course, the precursors need to be compatible: precipitation may readily occur in case of a pH mismatch or a difference in citrate:metal ion ratios for example. Also, the crystallization of the desired oxide at the end of this synthesis route will require thermal treatment, during which phase segregation of a homogeneous precursor is risked. Thermodynamics and kinetics of the thermal decomposition and phase formation will be determinant of which crystal phase is actually obtained and more insight into these aspects is required in order to achieve predictive power. These aspects will be illustrated by our work on various materials such as LiFePO₄, LNMO, Sn substituted Li_1.2Ni_0.13Co_0.13Mn_0.54−xSn_xO₂, LMTO, etc. which span commercially impactful materials up to abundant element containing materials holding high potential for future application.

References:

[1] Vranken, T., et al. Aqueous solution–gel precursors for LiFePO 4 lithium ion battery cathodes, their decomposition and phase formation. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 84, 198–205 (2017).

[2] Ulu Okudur, F., et al. LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4-δ (LNMO) as Co-free cathode for lithium ion batteries via solution-gel synthesis: Particle size and morphology investigation, J. Alloys Comp., 892, 2022 162175

[3] Paulus, A.; et al. An in-depth study of Sn substitution in Li-rich/Mn-rich NMC as a cathode material for Li-ion batteries, Dalton Trans., 2020, 49, 10486-10497

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