Preparation of LiCoO$_2$from Used Lithium Ion Battery by Hydrometallurgical Processes

Recycling process involving mechanical, thermal, hydrometallurgical, and sol-gel step has been applied to recover cobalt and lithium from spent lithium ion batteries and to synthesize LiCoO$_2$from leach liquor as cathodic active materials. Electrode materials containing lithium and cobalt could be concentrated with 2-step thermal and mechanical treatment. Leaching behaviors of the lithium and cobalt in nitric acid media was investigated in terms of reaction variables. Hydrogen peroxide in 1 M HNO$_3$solution turned out to be an effective reducing agent by enhancing the leaching efficiency. O f many possible processes to produce LiCoO$_2$, the amorphous citrate precursor process (ACP) has been applied to synthesize powders with a large specific surface area and an exact stoichiometry. After leaching used LiCoO$_2$with nitric acid, the molar ratio of Li/Co in the leach liquor was adjusted at 1.1 by adding a fresh LiNO$_3$solution. Then, 1 M citric acid solution at a 100% stoichiometry was also added to prepare a gelatinous precursor. When the precursor was calcined at 95$0^{\circ}C$ for 24 hr, purely crystalline LiCoO$_2$was successfully obtained. The particle size and specific surface area of the resulting crystalline powders were 20 пm and 30 $\textrm{cm}^2$/g, respectively The LiCoO$_2$powder was proved to have good characteristics as cathode active materials in charge/discharge capacity and cyclic performance.