Spherical nickel rich layer cathode materials (LiNi(0.85-x)Co(0.15)AlxO(2) (x = 0.02, 0.05 and 0.10), NCA) with excellent electrochemical performance for high energy densities lithium-ion batteries are successfully synthesized by a continuous co-precipitation method. An elaborate design of Al solution with sodium aluminate is successfully adopted, which can efficiently prevent rapid precipitation of Al(OH)(3) and obtain the precipitated precursors. The thermodynamic model is established in the Ni-Co-Al-NH3-H2O system and investigation of precipitation mechanism is carried out systematically, and the results demonstrate that the spherical LiNi(0.85-x)Co(0.15)AlxO(2) can be obtained through this route. Charge and discharge tests show that LiNi(0.85-x)Co(0.15)AlxO(2) synthesized has a high initial discharge specific capacity of 208 mAh/g at 0.1 C and a good capacity retention of 90.2% after 200 cycles at 0.5 C between 2.5 and 4.3 V. It is expected that performance of NCA electrodes for advancing lithium-ion batteries could be improved with the new process proposed in this study. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.