Materials recovery from NMC batteries with water as the sole solvent.

J Environ Manage

Ames National Laboratory of US DOE, Ames, IA, 50011, USA. Electronic address:

Published: August 2024

We report an environmentally benign recycling approach for large-capacity nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) batteries through the electrochemical concentration of lithium on the anode and subsequent recovery with only water. Cycling of the NMC pouch cells indicated the potential for maximum lithium recovery at a 5C charging rate. The anodes extracted from discharged and disassembled cells were submerged in deionized water, resulting in lithium dissolution and graphite recovery from the copper foils. A maximum of 13 mg of lithium salts per 100 mg of the anode, copper current collector, and separator was obtained from NMC pouch cell cycled at a 4C charging rate. The lithium salts extracted from batteries cycled at low C-rates were richer in lithium carbonate, while the salts from batteries cycled at high C-rates were richer in lithium oxides and peroxides, as determined by X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The present method can be successfully used to recover all the pouch cell components: lithium, graphite, copper, and aluminum current collectors, separator, and the cathode active material.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121710DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

nmc batteries
8
lithium
8
nmc pouch
8
charging rate
8
lithium salts
8
pouch cell
8
batteries cycled
8
c-rates richer
8
richer lithium
8
materials recovery
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!