• Resources Recycling
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.9-16
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• 2015

In a recycling scheme of spent lithium ion batteries, a co-precipitation process for the re-synthesis of precursor is essential after the leaching of lithium ion battery scraps. In this study, the effect of ammonia as impurity during the co-precipitation process was investigated in order to re-synthesize a precursor of Ni-rich cathode active material $LiNi_{0.6}Co_{0.2}Mn_{0.2}O_2$ (NCM 622). As ammonia concentration increases from 1 M (the optimum condition for synthesis of the precursors based on 2 M of metal salt solution) to 4 M, the composition of obtained precursors deviates from the designed composition, most notably for Ni. The Ni co-precipitation efficiency gradually decreases from 100% to 87% when the concentration of ammonia solution increases from 1 M to 4 M. Meanwhile, the morphological properties of the obtained precursors such as sphericity, homogeneity and size distribution of particles were also investigated.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.111-118
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• 2014

The electrochemical properties using the cells assembled with the synthesized $LiCoO_2$(LCO) were evaluated in this study. The LCO was synthesized from high-purity cobalt sulfate($CoSO_4$) which is recovered from the cathode scrap in the wastes lithium ion secondary battery(LIB). The leaching process for dissolving the metallic elements from the LCO scrap was controlled by the quantities of the sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide. The metal precipitation to remove the impurities was controlled by the pH value using the caustic soda. And also, D2EHPA and $CYANEX^{(R)}272$ were used in the solvent extraction process in order to remove the impurities again. The high-purity $CoSO_4$ solution was recovered by the processes mentioned above. We made the 6 wt.% $CoSO_4$ solution mixed with distilled water. And the 6 wt.% $CoSO_4$ solution was mixed with oxalic acid by the stirring method and dried in oven. $LiCoO_2$ as a cathode material for LIB was formed by the calcination after the drying and synthesis with the $Li_2CO_3$ powder. We assembled the cells using the $LiCoO_2$ powders and evaluated the electrochemical properties. And then, we confirmed possibility of the recyclability about the cathode materials for LIBs.

• Clean Technology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2023

The recovery of valuable metals from waste lithium-based secondary batteries is very important in terms of efficiently utilizing earth's limited number of resources. Currently, the cathode material of a LiFePO₄ battery, a type of battery which is widely used in automobiles, contains approximately 5% lithium. After use, the lithium in these batteries can be used again as a raw material for new batteries through lithium recycling. In this study, low-concentration sulfuric acid, a commonly used type of inorganic acid, was used to selectively leach the lithium contained in a waste LiFePO₄ cathode material powder. In addition, in order to compare and analyze the leaching efficiency and separation efficiency of each component, the optimalleaching conditions were derived by applying a two-step leaching process with pulp density being used as a variable during leaching. When leaching with pulp density as a variable, it was confirmed that at a pulp density of 200 g/L, the separation efficiency was approximately 200 times higher than at other pulp densities because the iron and phosphorus components were hardly leached at this pulp density. Accordingly, the pulp density of 200 g/L was used tooptimize the leaching conditions for the selective leaching and recovery of lithium.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.76-84
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• 2008

There are several kinds of battery such as zinc-air battery, lithium battery, manganese dry battery, silver oxide battery, mercury battery, sodium-sulphur battery, lead battery, nickel-hydrogen secondary battery, nickel-cadmium battery, lithium ion battery and alkaline battery, etc. These days it has been widely studied for the recycling technologies of the used battery from view points of economy and efficiency. In this paper, patents on the recycling technologies of the used manganese dry battery were analyzed. The range of search was limited in the open patents of USA (US), European Union (EP), Japan (JP), and Korea (KR) from 1986 to 2006. Patents were collected using key-words searching and filtered by filtering criteria. The trends of the patents were analyzed by the years, countries, companies, and technologies.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.59-66
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• 2022

Lithium-ion batteries have greatly expanded along with the mobile phone market, and as the electric vehicle business is activated in earnest, they will attract many people's attention even afterwards. Until now, many people have attracted attention to the recovery of valuable metals inside lithium-ion batteries, but graphite, which is mainly used as an anode material, is also worth recycling. Therefore, in order to recover graphite with high purity and valuable metals, graphite that can be used as an anode material of a secondary battery may be generated again through a regeneration process of purifying and separating graphite from a waste lithium-ion battery and recovering electrical characteristics of graphite. This paper describes the process of converting waste graphite into regenerated graphite and the environmental and economic effects of regenerated graphite.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.259-264
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• 2023

As the demand for lithium-ion batteries, a key power source in electric vehicles and energy storage systems, continues to increase for achieving global carbon neutrality, there is a growing concern about the environmental impact of disposing of spent batteries. Extensive research is underway to develop efficient recycling methods. While hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy methods are commonly used to recover valuable metals from spent cathode materials, they have drawbacks including hazardous waste and complex processes. Hence, alternative recycling methods that are environmentally friendly are being explored. However, recycling spent cathode materials still remains complex and energy-intensive. This study focuses on a novel approach called solid-state synthesis, which aims at regenerating the performance of spent cathode materials. The method offers a simpler process and reduces energy consumption. Optimal heat treatment conditions were identified based on experimental results, contributing to the development of sustainable recycling technologies for lithium-ion batteries.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.83-89
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• 2020

For the past few decades, as part of efforts to protect the environment where fossil fuels, which have been a key energy resource for mankind, are becoming increasingly depleted and pollution due to industrial development, ecofriendly secondary batteries, hydrogen generating energy devices, energy storage systems, and many other new energy technologies are being developed. Among them, the lithium-ion battery (LIB) is considered to be a next-generation energy device suitable for application as a large-capacity battery and capable of industrial application due to its high energy density and long lifespan. However, considering the growing battery market such as eco-friendly electric vehicles and drones, it is expected that a large amount of battery waste will spill out from some point due to the end of life. In order to prepare for this situation, development of a process for recovering lithium and various valuable metals from waste batteries is required, and at the same time, a plan to recycle them is socially required. In this study, we introduce a nanoscale pattern transfer printing (NTP) process of Li2CO3, a representative anode material for lithium ion batteries, one of the strategic materials for recycling waste batteries. First, Li2CO3 powder was formed by pressing in a vacuum, and a 3-inch sputter target for very pure Li2CO3 thin film deposition was successfully produced through high-temperature sintering. The target was mounted on a sputtering device, and a well-ordered Li2CO3 line pattern with a width of 250 nm was successfully obtained on the Si substrate using the NTP process. In addition, based on the nTP method, the periodic Li2CO3 line patterns were formed on the surfaces of metal, glass, flexible polymer substrates, and even curved goggles. These results are expected to be applied to the thin films of various functional materials used in battery devices in the future, and is also expected to be particularly helpful in improving the performance of lithium-ion battery devices on various substrates.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.446-452
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• 2019

We have developed a method that can leach Co, Mn, and Ni in the cathode active material safely using lactic acid. When cathode active material was leached by lactic acid, lactic acid showed the highest efficiency at 2 N than 1 N and above 4 N concentration. When the cathode active material was added incrementally into the solution of lactic acid, the maximum solubility was 30 g/L at 2 N concentration. Oxalic acid was added in the solution of lactic acid and it showed that rare metals represent the most economical recovery efficiency at 4 g/L. Based on this study, it was found that the optimal condition for recovery of rare metals from cathode active material is oxalic acid : cathode active material = 7 : 1 as a ratio of weight. In addition, it was observed that the precipitate produced by oxalic acid is a polynuclear crystalline material bonded with 3 components of Co, Ni, and Mn.