Towards a Closed Loop Recycling Process of End-of-Life Lithium-Ion Batteries:  Recovery of Critical Metals and Electrochemical Performance Evaluation of a Novel Licoo2

Abstract

In the present work, two hydro-metallurgical processes were developed using two different acids (sulfuric acid or nitric acid) to recover valuable metals (Li,Co) from a cell phone battery type Samsung. The main objectives were to firstly investigate the simplicity of separation of different elements of cathodic material, secondly study the purity of different materials resynthesized from the recovered elements using the XRD analysis, and finally find out the effect of leaching acid on the morphological and textural properties of elaborated materials. Then, the electrochemical performances of the resynthesized LCOs were examined and compared with LCOs prepared by commercial reagents. In conclusion, the LCOs obtained from the recycling of end-of-life LiBs exhibit a discharge/charge capacity of 148.2 mAh.g-1 and 121.6 mAh.g-1 for the nitric and sulfuric processes, respectively. And 171 mAh.g-1 and 149 mAh.g-1 for LCOs developed by commercial cobalt sulfate and commercial cobalt nitrate, respectively. In addition, the developed process aims the recovery of its wastes such as Aluminum and Sodium which make it more sustainable and ecofriendly.

Keywords: Recycling, hydro-metallurgical processes, Electrochemical performances, Circular economy, Critical elements