Nickel-rich layered oxide, as the most promising cathode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), possesses high energy density. Nonetheless, the formation of microcracks as well as the release of lattice oxygen during electrochemical cycling are the main issues facing nickel-rich layered oxide. In this work, by introducing high-valent antimony (Sb) elements into LiNi0.9Co0.05Mn0.05O2 (NCM) during the lithiation process of Ni0.9Co0.05Mn0.05(OH)2 hydroxide precursor, the crystal surface energy during particle growth is significantly reduced, regulating the synthesized primary particles with radial alignment. Such a structure could mitigate the accumulation of strain due to the anisotropic lattice expansion and contraction induced by the phase transition during the lithium extraction/insertion process, thus effectively suppressing the generation of microcracks. Meanwhile, the introduction of strong antimony-oxygen covalent bonds into the lattice of the material can restrain the releasing of lattice oxygen and mitigate the structural collapse. Therefore, the 0.5mol% antimony-doped NCM (0.5 S b-NCM) exhibits excellent electrochemical performance, delivering a high initial discharge capacity up to 219.8 mA h/g at 0.1 C, and high capacity retention of 97.09 % over 200 cycles at 1 C. This work presents an effective way to regulate the microstructure to mitigate internal strain and oxygen evolution of nickel-rich cathode materials.