Synthesis of high performance nano-over-lithiated oxide coated LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 from spent lithium ion batteries

The widely usage of LiNi1-x-yCoxMnyO2 (NCM, here 1-x-y≤0.5) batteries makes their recovering and recycling urgent requirements. Here, a novel efficient and environmentally friendly recycling process have been developed to synthesis high performance NCM materials from spent NCM batteries. The recovery process comprises battery dismantling process, spent cathode separation and purification process, precipitation process and a heat treatment process. In the typical Mn2+, Co2+, and Ni2+ solutions are introduced to form Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13(OH)1.6 homogeneously coated precursor. The final Li1.20Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13O2(LLO) coated LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2(NCM622) composite is obtained by commonly used heat treatment. LLO modification recovers the electrochemical activity of spent NCM622 pronouncedly even better than the reference commercialized NCM622. 1% LLO active materials show discharge capacities of 178.2 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C rate and display a superior cycling performance with 98.4% capacity retention after 100 cycles.