and

However, their capacity decreases with each charging cycle due to structural and chemical changes.

However, so far it has been observed that these cathode materials 'age' rapidly: the cathode material degrades as a result to the back-and-forth migration of lithium ions during charging and discharging.

After careful evaluation of the extensive data, the results are now available: they provide detailed information on changes in the morphology and structure of the material, but also on chemical processes during discharge.

The results provide insights into local lattice distortions associated with phase transitions and nanopore formation.

The speed of the charging processes plays an important role here: slow charging favours phase transitions and oxygen loss, while fast charging leads to lattice distortions and inhomogeneous lithium diffusion.