Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-4-2025
Abstract
Upcycling degraded low-Ni cathode materials into Ni-rich alternatives offers significant economic and environmental benefits for lithium-ion battery production. However, the stability and safety of the upcycled materials remain challenging due to their aggressive composition. This study reports an innovative two-step upcycling method that integrates a coating process with a low-temperature annealing process, thereby successfully upcycling degraded NCM622 with a LiAlO2 coating layer. Through comprehensive characterization, the recovery of crystal structure and uniform LiAlO2 coating on the particle surface are confirmed by XRD and XPS results. As a result of structural recovery and surface engineering, upcycled NCM622 demonstrates an initial capacity comparable to that of NCM811 at 195.3 mA h g−1 at 1 C rate, with 86.8% capacity retention after 100 cycles at a cut-off voltage of 4.6 V. Moreover, it exhibits excellent rate capability, delivering 141.9 mA h g−1 at 5 C. Beyond enhancing electrochemical performance, this method significantly improves the thermal stability of degraded NCM622, with the upcycled material showing less than 0.1% weight loss at 400 °C. The findings highlight the potential of upcycled cathode materials with the LiAlO2 coating to meet the high-performance and sustainability requirements of modern lithium-ion batteries, contributing to the circular economy of lithium-ion batteries in the future.
Language
English
Publication Title
EES Batteries
Rights
© 2025, The Author(s). This is an Open Access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Yu Wang, Chris Yuan; Direct upcycling of degraded NCM via low-temperature surface engineering for high performance lithium-ion batteries. EES Batteries 2025; 1 (4): 902–912. https://doi.org/10.1039/d5eb00018a
Manuscript Version
Final Publisher Version