Selective cobalt and nickel electrodeposition for lithium-ion battery recycling through integrated electrolyte and interface control

Kim, Kwiyong; Raymond, Darien; Candeago, Riccardo; Su, Xiao

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-26814-7

Title: Selective cobalt and nickel electrodeposition for lithium-ion battery recycling through integrated electrolyte and interface control

Journal Article · 11 November 2021 · Nature Communications

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26814-7 · OSTI ID:1830037

Kim, Kwiyong;

;

Abstract Molecularly-selective metal separations are key to sustainable recycling of Li-ion battery electrodes. However, metals with close reduction potentials present a fundamental challenge for selective electrodeposition, especially for critical elements such as cobalt and nickel. Here, we demonstrate the synergistic combination of electrolyte control and interfacial design to achieve molecular selectivity for cobalt and nickel during potential-dependent electrodeposition. Concentrated chloride allows for the speciation control via distinct formation of anionic cobalt chloride complex (CoCl ₄ ^2- ), while maintaining nickel in the cationic form ([Ni(H ₂ O) ₅ Cl] ⁺ ). Furthermore, functionalizing electrodes with a positively charged polyelectrolyte (i.e., poly(diallyldimethylammonium) chloride) changes the mobility of CoCl ₄ ^2- by electrostatic stabilization, which tunes cobalt selectivity depending on the polyelectrolyte loading. This strategy is applied for the multicomponent metal recovery from commercially-sourced lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide electrodes. We report a final purity of 96.4 ± 3.1% and 94.1 ± 2.3% for cobalt and nickel, respectively. Based on a technoeconomic analysis, we identify the limiting costs arising from the background electrolyte, and provide a promising outlook of selective electrodeposition as an efficient separation approach for battery recycling.

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Research Organization:: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AR0001396; SC0021409

OSTI ID:: 1830037

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 12; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United Kingdom

Language:: English

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Title: Selective cobalt and nickel electrodeposition for lithium-ion battery recycling through integrated electrolyte and interface control

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