Recycling of Li(Ni,Co,Mn)O2 via a chlorination technique

A new approach to recycle Li(Ni,Co,Mn)O-2 (NCM, Ni:Co:Mn=1:1:1) is introduced and experimentally demonstrated. Chlorine gas was employed as a reaction agent to selectively extract Li from NCM. Through a reaction at 550 degrees C for 4 h under a 180 mL/min Ar+20 mL/min Cl-2 flow, Li was converted into water-soluble LiCl, while the initial transition metals (Ni, Co, and Mn) were converted into a spinel-type oxide phase. Minor amount of transition metals, which reacted with Cl-2 to produce transition-metal chlorides, were recovered in the subsequent precipitation step. An amount of 94.9 wt% of transition-metal recovery ratio was achieved through the recovery processes. The amount of Li recovered as Li2CO3 was 35.8 wt% of the initial amount. A new NCM was successfully re-synthesized using the recovered materials as well as additional Li2CO3, resulting in a layered NCM structure. The re-synthesized NCM was electrochemically evaluated by fabricating a CR2032 coin cell which exhibited a capacity of 105 mAh/g.

Automated summary

A new approach to recycle Li(Ni,Co,Mn)O-2 (NCM) is introduced and experimentally demonstrated. Chlorine gas is used to selectively extract Li from NCM and successfully recover transition metals. Through this method, a 94.9% recovery ratio of transition metals and a 35.8% recovery ratio of Li are achieved, leading to the successful re-synthesis of a new NCM.