Efficient direct repairing of lithium- and manganese-rich cathodes by concentrated solar radiation

Hailong Wang; Xin Geng; Linyu Hu; Jun Wang; Yunkai Xu; Yudong Zhu; Zhimeng Liu; Jun Lu; Yuanjing Lin; Xin He

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-45754-6

Efficient direct repairing of lithium- and manganese-rich cathodes by concentrated solar radiation

Nat Commun. 2024 Feb 23;15(1):1634. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-45754-6.

Authors

Hailong Wang^{1

2}, Xin Geng¹, Linyu Hu², Jun Wang³, Yunkai Xu⁴, Yudong Zhu⁵, Zhimeng Liu¹, Jun Lu⁶, Yuanjing Lin⁷, Xin He^{8

9

10}

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China.
² School of Microelectronics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
³ School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
⁴ College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.
⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Full Spectral Solar Electricity Generation (FSSEG), Southern University of Science and Technology, No. 1088, Xueyuan Rd, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518055, China.
⁶ College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China. junzoelu@zju.edu.cn.
⁷ School of Microelectronics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China. linyj2020@sustech.edu.cn.
⁸ School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China. xinhe@scu.edu.cn.
⁹ College of Electrical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China. xinhe@scu.edu.cn.
¹⁰ College of Civil Aviation Safety Engineering, Civil Aviation Flight University of China, Guanghan, 618307, China. xinhe@scu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Lithium- and manganese-rich layered oxide cathode materials have attracted extensive interest because of their high energy density. However, the rapid capacity fading and serve voltage decay over cycling make the waste management and recycling of key components indispensable. Herein, we report a facile concentrated solar radiation strategy for the direct recycling of Lithium- and manganese-rich cathodes, which enables the recovery of capacity and effectively improves its electrochemical stability. The phase change from layered to spinel on the particle surface and metastable state structure of cycled material provides the precondition for photocatalytic reaction and thermal reconstruction during concentrated solar radiation processing. The inducement of partial inverse spinel phase is identified after concentrated solar radiation treatment, which strongly enhances the redox activity of transition metal cations and oxygen anion, and reversibility of lattice structure. This study sheds new light on the reparation of spent cathode materials and designing high-performance compositions to mitigate structural degradation.