V plateau has little effect on the rest of the voltage profile in LiNiO 2 . Ref 43 also shows a gradual capacity decay at the end of discharge. Note that the simulations are under the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, which assumes that electrons are always in equilibrium (infinite electrical conductivity). This implies that improving electrical conductivity alone would not resolve the high resistance issue during charge above 4.15 V. Also, no tetrahedral Ni is present in the above simulations, as it does not form without excess Ni in the bulk. Therefore, the capacity decay cannot be attributed to tetrahedral Ni either. The simulation associates the progressive capacity decay with β phase coverage, showing that with less than 100% coverage the capacity losses at both ends are moderate. This suggests that mitigating capacity decay does not require full surface protection; partial coating or doping may be sufficient to preserve enough intact surface for H3 phase nucleation.