Manganese-based catalysts recovered from spent ternary lithium-ion batteries and its catalytic activity enhanced by a mechanical method

Ammonia leaching has recently been applied to leach metals from cathode scrap of the spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), and the performance of the manganese-based catalysts recovered from the reclamation of the residues produced in the leaching process was investigated in this study. The results showed that the origin residue from ammonia leaching was converted into mangano-manganic oxide (Mn3O4) and nickel manganese (NiMn2O4) after calcination. The catalytic activity of the recovered manganese-based catalysts could be efficiently enhanced after ball grinding for 15 min, with the degradation of methylene blue (MB) from 11% to 40%. Characterizations were carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET, particle size analysis, scanning electron microscope (SEM) as well as Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). It was found that the increase of the surface area and the reduction of particle size after grinding would be a benefit to improve the catalytic activity. It was indicated that the catalytic performance of the manganese-based catalysts recovered from ammonia leaching residues by calcination could be improved by mechanical methods.