Significant Improvement in Dissolving Lithium-Ion Battery Cathodes Using Novel Deep Eutectic Solvents at Low Temperature

• Published in: ACS sustainable chemistry & engineering Vol. 9; no. 38; pp. 12940 - 12948
• Main Authors: Chen, Yu, Wang, Yanlong, Bai, Yue, Duan, Yaoting, Zhang, Baolong, Liu, Cong, Sun, Xuanchao, Feng, Minghui, Mu, Tiancheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 27.09.2021
• Subjects: high efficiency; lithium-ion batteries; deep eutectic solvents; lithium cobalt oxide; green solvents
• ISSN: 2168-0485; 2168-0485
• DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c04220

Mild and green dissolution of lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) with high efficiency is challenging. Here, novel DESs based on poly­(ethylene glycol) 200 and p-toluenesulfonic acid monohydrate are designed and found to dissolve LCO with nearly a 100% leaching efficiency at 100 °C within 24 h, which is much higher than the leaching efficiency by DESs in the reported references. The dissolution mechanism investigation shows that the interaction between DESs and LCO is a physical process. This work provides a new strategy for the mild and efficient dissolution of LCO by cheap and green solvents.