Recent Advances in Powder Atomic Layer Deposition for Li-ion Battery Cathodes

The growing demand for energy storage systems and electric vehicles has intensified research on Li-ion batteries, in which the cathode significantly influences both cost and performance. This review focuses on recent advances in atomic layer deposition (ALD) as a strategy to enhance cathode materials through surface modification and doping. Originally developed for the semiconductor industry, ALD enables conformal and precisely controlled coating on substrates with high-aspect-ratio structures, making it suitable for use in porous electrode structures. Direct application of ALD to cathode materials enables atomic-scale control over surface coating thickness and has been utilized to achieve significant performance improvements. ALD can also induce doping effects after thermal treatment, thereby improving structural integrity and electrochemical stability. This review also discusses potential directions for scaling up ALD processes to enable their industrial implementation in next-generation Li-ion batteries. Emerging approaches such as plasma-enhanced ALD for faster low-temperature processing and continuous powder ALD for high-throughput coating are promising solutions.