Synergistic regulation of kinetic reaction pathway and surface structure degradation in single-crystal high-nickel cathodes

•Synergistic surface modification is explored for single-crystal Ni-rich cathode.•Trace Zr-doping and conductive Li3BO3 layer are simultaneously adopted to modify the NCM cathode.•It exhibits outstanding high-voltage performance for coin-type half-cell and pouch-type full cell.•It provides an insight into the improvement of single-crystal NCM cathode.