US Patent 10297821 Cathode-active materials, their precursors, and methods of forming

Methods are presented for synthesizing a metal precursor for a cathode-active material. The methods include adding urea to a solution comprising dissolved ions of at least one transition metal selected from Mn, Co, and Ni. The methods also include increasing a pH of the aqueous solution to a threshold pH. The methods additionally include heating the aqueous solution to precipitate a compound that includes the at least one transition metal. Such heating may involve urea decomposition. Methods are also presented that include filtering the compound from the solution and contacting the compound with at least a lithium precursor to produce a reactant charge. In these methods, the reactant charge is calcined to produce the cathode-active material. Other methods are presented.