Copper Impurity Effects on LiNi(1/3)Mn(1/3)Co(1/3)O2 Cathode Material

The crystal structure and electrochemical properties of LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 (NMC) synthesized from a lithium ion battery recovery stream have been studied previously. In this report, we study the Cu impurity effects on NMC in detail. The difference in crystal structures and electrochemical properties were examined for pure and copper impurity included products. Scanning electron microscopy figures show that the precursor particles of NMC are slightly bigger than that of NMC with copper impurity. After undergoing 150 cycles at 2C, X-ray diffraction refinements results show that the lattice parameters for impurity containing NMC and pure NMC change to different extents. Furthermore, due to the minor change of lattice parameters, copper-containing NMC offers a more stable capacity retention compared to pure NMC.