Recycling and regeneration of lithium-ion battery cathodes
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsZheng CHEN, Panpan XU
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for regeneration of spent cathode material of lithium-ion batteries involves lithiating the cathode material in a relithiation solution including a reducing agent at a temperature in the range of 60° C. to 180° C. for a sufficient time to heal composition defects in the cathode material. The lithiated material is then sintered to completely recover the properties. The relithiation solution may be a Li-ion source combined with nature-based organic reducing agent such as citric acid, ascorbic acid, tartaric acid, or similar.
Claims19
1-20. (canceled)
A method for regeneration of spent cathode material of lithium-ion batteries, the method comprising:
- lithiating the spent cathode material in an aqueous relithiation solution comprising at least one organic reducing agent, the cathode material and a lithium salt to produce a replenished lithiated cathode material;
- and
- heating the replenished lithiated cathode material to a temperature of at least 400° C. to cure defects in the replenished lithiated cathode material.
A method for regenerating spent LiFePO4 cathode material from spent lithium-ion batteries, the method comprising:
- disassembling the lithium-ion batteries and removing cathode strips comprising spent LiFePO4 cathode material;
- collecting LiFePO4 cathode powder from the cathode strips;
- forming an aqueous relithiation solution comprising the LiFePO4 cathode powder, at least one organic reducing agent and a lithium salt;
- incubating the aqueous relithiation solution for at least one hour to form a replenished lithiated cathode material;
- and
- heating the replenished lithiated cathode material at a temperature of at least 400° C. to cure defects in the replenished lithiated cathode material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.