Doped Cathode Precursors From Recycled Li-Ion Batteries
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional Li-ion battery recycling methods face challenges in ensuring consistent quality and performance of recycled cathode materials due to varying source and properties of the materials, leading to issues with cycle life and surface cracking.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of doping substances, particularly dopant salts like magnesium or aluminum, during the coprecipitation and sintering process of recycled Li-ion battery metals, helps in forming doped cathode active materials with improved surface morphology and cycle life by adjusting the metal ratios and adding additional dopant salts before or during sintering with lithium.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional recycling methods are used without doping substances, then the recycling process is simpler, but the cathode material exhibits surface cracking and reduced cycle life
Solution Approach 1:
Doping substances act as intermediaries during the coprecipitation process, mediating between the recycled cathode material and the final product quality. The dopants (such as aluminum, magnesium, calcium salts) are introduced in small quantities to modify the precipitation behavior, resulting in cathode materials with improved surface morphology and reduced cracking while maintaining the recycling process feasibility
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes chemical parameters by introducing dopant salts during coprecipitation. By adjusting the type and concentration of dopant substances (e.g., aluminum nitrate, magnesium chloride), the crystal structure and surface properties of the cathode material are modified, leading to improved cycle life and reduced surface cracking without fundamentally altering the recycling process flow
2Manufacturing precision
If doping substances are added during coprecipitation, then surface morphology and cycle life are improved, but the manufacturing process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The doping substances are introduced during the coprecipitation stage, which is an early step in the cathode material production process. This preliminary action allows the dopants to be incorporated into the crystal structure during formation, ensuring uniform distribution and effective surface morphology control before subsequent processing steps
Solution Approach 2:
By changing the chemical composition parameters through dopant addition, the invention achieves precise control over surface morphology. The dopants modify precipitation kinetics and crystal growth patterns, resulting in cathode materials with desired surface properties while maintaining compatibility with existing manufacturing processes
3Reliability
If high purity battery grade materials are required, then product quality is ensured, but the recycling cost and process complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the chemical parameters of the recycled material by introducing dopant substances during coprecipitation. This allows the production of cathode materials with consistent and controlled composition that meets quality requirements, while the dopants themselves serve as quality control mechanisms rather than requiring additional purification steps
Solution Approach 2:
Doping substances serve as intermediaries that facilitate the transformation of variable-quality recycled materials into consistent, high-quality cathode products. The dopants compensate for variations in feedstock composition and ensure uniform product properties, reducing the need for complex purification and quality control processes
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach results in cathode materials with reduced cracking defects and enhanced cycle life, with doped cathode material precursors showing improved physical and surface properties, and maintaining over 90% charge capacity after approximately 1240 cycles.
Implementation Method 1
A doped charge material precursor results from pH adjustment, coprecipitating the charge material metals and the dopant salts
Implementation Method 2
which are then sintered with lithium to form a doped cathode active charge material
Data Source
AI summary
A battery recycling process aggregates a recycling stream including charge material metals from exhausted Li-ion batteries and generates recycled battery charge material having comparable or improved cycle life as well as recycled charge material precursor having fewer cracking defects using doping substances in a coprecipitation phase in the recycling sequence. In a coprecipitation process, a solution of comingled charge material metals is produced, the ratio of the charge material metals is adjusted based on recycled battery specifications, and a relatively small quantity of a doping salt is added.