title: Recovery of cathode materials and Al from spent lithium-ion batteries by ultrasonic cleaning.
abstract: Cathode materials are difficult to separate from Al-foil substrates during the recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), because of the strong bonding force present. In this study, ultrasonic cleaning was used to separate and recycle these cathode materials. The mechanism of separation was ascribed to the dissolution of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and the cavitation caused by ultrasound. Based on this mechanism, the key parameters affecting the peel-off efficiency of cathode materials from Al foil was identified as solvent nature, temperature, ultrasonic power, and ultrasonic time. The peel-off efficiency of cathode materials achieved ∼ 99% under the optimized conditions of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) cleaning fluid, 70°C process temperature, 240 W ultrasonic power, and 90 min of ultrasonication. The cathode materials separated from Al foil displayed a low agglomeration degree, which is beneficial to the subsequent leaching process. Finally, a new, environmentally-sound process was proposed to efficiently recycle cathode materials and Al from spent LIBs, consisting of manual dismantling, ultrasonic cleaning, and picking.
authors: National Engineering Research Center for Integrated Utilization of Salt Lake Resource, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, PR China.
authors: Li-Po
authors: LP
authors: He
authors: National Engineering Research Center for Integrated Utilization of Salt Lake Resource, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, PR China. Electronic address: shysun@ecust.edu.cn.
authors: Shu-Ying
authors: SY
authors: Sun
authors: National Engineering Research Center for Integrated Utilization of Salt Lake Resource, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, PR China.
authors: Xing-Fu
authors: XF
authors: Song
authors: National Engineering Research Center for Integrated Utilization of Salt Lake Resource, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, PR China. Electronic address: jgyu@ecust.edu.cn.
authors: Jian-Guo
authors: JG
authors: Yu
mesh_terms: D000535:Aluminum / Q000032:analysis*; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004566:Electrodes; D059029:Electronic Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D008094:Lithium; D059027:Recycling / Q000379:methods*; D000069453:Ultrasonic Waves; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D008094:Lithium; D000535:Aluminum
keywords: Cathode materials; Lithium-ion batteries; Recycling; Ultrasonic cleaning