Sustainable LiCoO2 b Subscripty collective glide of CoO6 slabs upon charge/discharge

In pursuit of high-energy-density materials, layered LiCoO2 has always drawn signifi- cant attention for Li-ion batteries (LIBs). Upon delithiation, LiCoO2 usually suffers from deleterious CoO6 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 unprece-dented kinetic process of the CoO6 slab is observed upon the delithiation of LiCoO2. Such a behavior corresponds to a collective and quasi-continuous migration process of the CoO6 slabs over a wide range of charge/discharge before the layered-to-rock-salt-phase transformation. By introducing a gradual angle, the movement of CoO6 slabs can be precisely described with Li contents, which unlocks the door to elucidating the nano-scale electrode process dynamics as well as the atomic-scale design of layered electrodes for batteries.