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- Conflict of Interest
- In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.
- Publication history
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Received March 5, 2026
Accepted April 13, 2026
Available online August 25, 2026
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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits
unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Microstructural Regulation of Ionic Transport in LiCoO2 Cathodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Stochastic Reconstruction and Random-Walk Simulation Study
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-026-00726-y
Abstract
Lithium-ion transport in LiCoO₂ composite cathodes is strongly governed by the complex three-phase microstructure
composed of active material (AM), carbon-binder domain (CBD), and pore space. However, the independent effects
of key structural parameters on ion transport remain insufficiently quantified. In this work, a statistically equivalent
three-dimensional microstructure of LiCoO₂ cathodes was reconstructed using a stochastic method, and a random-walk
simulation was employed to evaluate the effective diffusivity and tortuosity. The influences of porosity, CBD content,
AM particle size, and particle size distribution were systematically investigated. The results show that increasing porosity
from 0.20 to 0.60 significantly enhances ion transport, with the effective diffusivity increasing from 0.109 to 0.465
and tortuosity decreasing from 2.148 to 1.278. In contrast, higher CBD content compresses pore channels and increases
transport resistance. Enlarging AM particle size improves pore connectivity, leading to increased diffusivity and reduced
tortuosity. Moreover, a broader particle size distribution further enlarges characteristic pore size and slightly enhances ion
transport. These findings quantitatively reveal the independent roles of key microstructural parameters and provide insights
for optimizing electrode design toward improved ion transport performance.
