• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.80-86
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• 2016

High Ni content layered oxide materials for the positive electrode in lithium-ion batteries have high specific capacity. However, their poor electrochemical and thermal stability at elevated temperature restrict the practical use. A small amount of $Al_2O_3$ was added to the mixture of transition metal hydroxide and lithium hydroxide. The $LiNi_{0.6}Co_{0.2}Mn_{0.2}O_2$ was simultaneously doped and coated with $Al_2O_3$ during heat-treatment. Electrochemical characteristics of modified $LiNi_{0.6}Co_{0.2}Mn_{0.2}O_2$ were evaluated by the galvanostatic cycling and the LSTA(linear sweep thermmametry) at the constant voltage conditions. The nano-sized $Al_2O_3$ added materials show better cycle performance at elevated temperature than that of micro-sized $Al_2O_3$. As the added amount of nano-$Al_2O_3$ increased, the thermal stability of electrode also enhanced, but the use of 2.5 mol% Al showed the best high temperature performance.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.9-16
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• 2015

In a recycling scheme of spent lithium ion batteries, a co-precipitation process for the re-synthesis of precursor is essential after the leaching of lithium ion battery scraps. In this study, the effect of ammonia as impurity during the co-precipitation process was investigated in order to re-synthesize a precursor of Ni-rich cathode active material $LiNi_{0.6}Co_{0.2}Mn_{0.2}O_2$ (NCM 622). As ammonia concentration increases from 1 M (the optimum condition for synthesis of the precursors based on 2 M of metal salt solution) to 4 M, the composition of obtained precursors deviates from the designed composition, most notably for Ni. The Ni co-precipitation efficiency gradually decreases from 100% to 87% when the concentration of ammonia solution increases from 1 M to 4 M. Meanwhile, the morphological properties of the obtained precursors such as sphericity, homogeneity and size distribution of particles were also investigated.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.417-425
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• 2021

As the demand for high-capacity batteries increases, there has been growing researches on the lithium metal anode with a capacity (3,860 mAh/g) of higher than that of conventional one and a low electrochemical potential (-3.040 V). In this study, using the anatase phased TiO₂ nanoparticles synthesized by hydrothermal synthesis, a PVdF-HFP/TiO₂ organic/inorganic composite material was designed and used as an interfacial protective layer for a Li metal anode. As-formed organic/inorganic-lithium composite thin film was confirmed through the crystalline structure and morphological analyses. In addition, the electrochemical test (cycle stability and voltage profile) confirmed that the protective layer of PVdF-HFP/TiO₂ composite (10 wt% TiO₂ and 1.1 ㎛ film thickness) contributed to the enhanced electrochemical performance of the lithium metal anode (Colombic efficiency retention: 90% for 77 cycles). Based on comparative test with the untreated lithium electrode, it was confirmed that our protective layer plays an important role to stabilize/improve the EC performance of the lithium metal negative electrode.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.95-100
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• 2012

$LiFePO_4$ is an attractive cathode material due to its low cost, good cyclability and safety. But it has low ionic conductivity and working voltage impose a limitation on its application for commercial products. In order to solve these problems, the iron($Fe^{2+}$)site in $LiFePO_4$ can be substituted with other transition metal ions such as $Mn^{2+}$ in pursuance of increase the working voltage. Also, reducing the size of electrode materials to nanometer scale can improve the power density because of a larger electrode-electrolyte contact area and shorter diffusion lengths for Li ions in crystals. Therefore, we chose electrospinning as a general method to prepare $Li[Fe_{0.9}Mn_{0.1}]PO_4$ to increase the surface area. Also, there have been very a few reports on the synthesis of cathode materials by electrospinning method for Lithium ion batteries. The morphology and nanostructure of the obtained $Li[Fe_{0.9}Mn_{0.1}]PO_4$ nanofibers were characterized using scanning electron microscopy(SEM). X-ray diffraction(XRD) measurements were also carried out in order to determine the structure of $Li[Fe_{0.9}Mn_{0.1}]PO_4$ nanofibers. Electrochemical properties of $Li[Fe_{0.9}Mn_{0.1}]PO_4$ were investigated with charge/discharge measurements, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements(EIS).

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.116-122
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• 2010

A $Cu_3Si$ film electrode is obtained by Si deposition on a Cu foil using DC magnetron sputtering, which is followed by annealing at $800^{\circ}C$ for 10 h. The Si component in $Cu_3Si$ is inactive for lithiation at ambient temperature. The linear sweep thermammetry (LSTA) and galvano-static charge/discharge cycling, however, consistently illustrate that $Cu_3Si$ becomes active for the conversion-type lithiation reaction at elevated temperatures (> $85^{\circ}C$). The $Cu_3Si$ electrode that is short-circuited with Li metal for one week is converted to a mixture of $Li_{21}Si_5$ and metallic Cu, implying that the Li-Si alloy phase generated at 0.0 V (vs. Li/$Li^+$) at the quasi-equilibrium condition is the most Li-rich $Li_{21}Si_5$. However, the lithiation is not extended to this phase in the constant-current charging (transient or dynamic condition). Upon de-lithiation, the metallic Cu and Si react to be restored back to $Cu_3Si$. The $Cu_3Si$ electrode shows a better cycle performance than an amorphous Si electrode at $120^{\circ}C$, which can be ascribed to the favorable roles provided by the Cu component in $Cu_3Si$. The inactive element (Cu) plays as a buffer against the volume change of Si component, which can minimize the electrode failure by suppressing the detachment of Si from the Cu substrate.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.592-597
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• 2014

The graphite/$SiO_2$ composites as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries were prepared by sol-gel method to improve the graphite's electrochemical characteristics. The prepared graphite/$SiO_2$ composites were analysed by XRD, FE-SEM and EDX. The graphite surface modified by silicon dioxide showed several advantages to stabilize SEI layer. The electrochemical characteristics were investigated for lithium ion battery using graphite/$SiO_2$ as the working electrode and Li metal as the counter electrode. Electrochemical behaviors using organic electrolytes ($LiPF_6$, EC/DMC) were characterized by charge/discharge, cycle, cyclic voltammetry and impedance tests. The lithium ion battery using graphite/$SiO_2$ electrodes had better capacity than that of using graphite electrodes and was able to deliver a discharge capacity with 475 mAh/g at a rate of 0.1 C. Also, the capacity retention ratio of the modified graphite reaches 99% at a rate of 0.8 C.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.81-91
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• 2022

The use of lithium-ion batteries increases significantly with the rapid spread of electronic devices and electric vehicle and thereby an increase in the amount of waste batteries is expected in the near future. Therefore, studies are continuously being conducted to recover various resources of cathode active material (Ni, Co, Mn, Li) from waste battery. In order to recover the cathode active material, black mass is generally recovered from waste battery. The general process of recovering black mass is a waste battery collection - discharge - dismantling - crushing - classification process. This study focus on the crushing/classification process among the processes. Specifically, the particle size distribution of various samples at each crushing/classification step were evaluated, and the particle shape of each particle fraction was analyzed with a microscope and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy)-EDS(Energy Dispersive Spectrometer). As a result, among the black mass particle, fine particle less than 74 ㎛ was the mixture of cathode and anode active material which are properly liberated from the current metals. However, coarse particle larger than 100 ㎛ was present in a form in which the current metal and active material were combined. In addition, this study developed a PBM(Population Balance Model) system that can simulate two-species mixture sample with two different crushing properties. Using developed model, the breakage parameters of two species was derived and predictive performance of breakage distribution was verified.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.156-165
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• 2017

This study quantitatively assessed the environmental impacts of fuel cell (FC) systems by performing life cycle assessment (LCA) and analyzed their energy efficiencies based on energy return on investment (EROI) and electrical energy stored on investment (ESOI). Molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) system and polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system were selected as the fuel cell systems. Five different paths to produce hydrogen ($H_2$) as fuel such as natural gas steam reforming (NGSR), centralized naptha SR (NSR(C)), NSR station (NSR(S)), liquified petroleum gas SR (LPGSR), water electrolysis (WE) were each applied to the FCs. The environmental impacts and the energy efficiencies of the FCs were compared with rechargeable batteries such as $LiFePO_4$ (LFP) and Nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH). The LCA results show that MCFC_NSR(C) and PEMFC_NSR(C) have the lowest global warming potential (GWP) with 6.23E-02 kg $CO_2$ eq./MJ electricity and 6.84E-02 kg $CO_2$ eq./MJ electricity, respectively. For the impact category of abiotic resource depletion potential (ADP), MCFC_NGSR(S) and PEMFC_NGSR(S) show the lowest impacts of 7.42E-01 g Sb eq./MJ electricity and 7.19E-01 g Sb eq./MJ electricity, respectively. And, the energy efficiencies of the FCs are higher than those of the rechargeable batteries except for the case of hydrogen produced by WE.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.324-331
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• 2023

Lithium (Li) is a key resource driving the rapid growth of the electric vehicle industry globally, with demand and prices continually on the rise. To address the limited reserves of major lithium sources such as rock and brine, research is underway on seawater Li extraction using electrodialysis and Li-ion selective membranes. Lithium lanthanum titanate (LLTO), an oxide solid electrolyte for all-solid-state batteries, is a promising Li-ion selective membrane. An important factor in enhancing its performance is employing the powder synthesis process. In this study, the LLTO powder is prepared using two synthesis methods: sol-gel reaction (SGR) and solid-state reaction (SSR). Additionally, the powder size and uniformity are compared, which are indices related to membrane performance. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy are employed for determining characterization, with crystallite size analysis through the full width at half maximum parameter for the powders prepared using the two synthetic methods. The findings reveal that the powder SGR-synthesized powder exhibits smaller and more uniform characteristics (0.68 times smaller crystal size) than its SSR counterpart. This discovery lays the groundwork for optimizing the powder manufacturing process of LLTO membranes, making them more suitable for various applications, including manufacturing high-performance membranes or mass production of membranes.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.60-67
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• 2019

A valuable metal recovery from waste resources such as spent rechargeable secondary batteries is of critical issues because of a sharp increase in the amount of waste resources. In this context, it is necessary to research not only recycling waste lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), but also reusing valuable metals (e.g., Li, Co, Ni, Mn etc.) recovered from waste LIBs. In particular, the lithium hydroxide ($LiOH{\cdot}xH_2O$), which is of precursors that can be prepared by the recovery of Li in waste LIBs, can be reused as a catalyst, a carbon dioxide absorbent, and again as a precursor for cathode materials of LIB. However, most studies of recycling the waste LIBs have been focused on the preparation of lithium carbonate with a recovery of Li. Herein, we show the preparation of high purity lithium hydroxide powder along with the precipitation process, and the systematic study to find an optimum condition is also carried out. The lithium carbonate, which is recovered from waste LIBs, was used as starting materials for synthesis of lithium hydroxide. The optimum precipitation conditions for the preparation of LiOH were found as follows: based on stirring, reaction temperature $90^{\circ}C$, reaction time 3 hr, precursor ratio 1:1. To synthesize uniform and high purity lithium hydroxide, 2-step precipitation process was additionally performed, and consequently, high purity $LiOH{\cdot}xH_2O$ powder was obtained.