Separation of nickel from cobalt and manganese in lithium ion batteries using deep eutectic solvents

The authors would like to thank the Faraday Institution (grant codes FIRG005 and FIRG006) for funding (Project website https://relib.org.uk). This research also received funding from the European Commission's H2020 – Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) − Innovative Training Networks within the SOCRATES project under the grant agreement no. 721385 (Project website: https://etn-socrates.eu).A cornerstone of the decarbonisation agenda is the use of lithium ion batteries, particularly for electric vehicles. It is essential that effective recycling protocols are developed and this includes the ability to selectively digest and recover components of the cathode materials, most commonly including manganese, cobalt and nickel. This study shows a method by which nickel oxide can be efficiently separated from cobalt and manganese oxides using an oxalic acid-based deep eutectic solvent. The subsequent addition of water to the pregnant solution enables the co-precipitation of cobalt and manganese oxalates. This permits a route to the reformulation of the active materials from high cobalt and manganese content to high nickel content.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Business alignment in the procurement domain: a study of antecedents and determinants of supply chain performance.

With organizations now placing an increasing amount on attention on the management of their supply chain activities, the role of Information Technology (IT) in supporting these operations has been put in the spotlight. In spite of extensive research examining how IT can be employed in various activities of supply chain management, the majority of studies are limited in identifying enablers and inhibitors of adoption. Empirical studies examining post-adoption conditions that facilitate performance improvement still remain scarce. In this study we focus on procurement as part of the supply chain management activities. We apply the business-IT alignment perspective to the domain of procurement, and examine how certain organizational factors impact the attainment of this state. Additionally, we research the effect that procurement alignment has on supply chain management performance. In order to do so, we apply Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis on a sample of 172 European companies. We find that firms that opt for a centralized governance structure, as well as larger firms, are more likely to attain a state of procurement alignment. Furthermore, our results empirically support the statement that procurement alignment is positively correlated with operational efficiency and competitive performance of the supply chain. (aut.ref.

Electrochemical oxidation as alternative for dissolution of metal oxides in deep eutectic solvents

Metal oxide dissolution is central to most metal processing and is generally carried out using mineral acids. An alternative approach has been demonstrated for metal sulfides using electrochemical oxidation. Here the so-called paint casting method was employed to investigate the electrochemical dissolution and recovery of selected metal oxides. Cyclic voltammetry showed that all of the metal oxides were electrochemically active in deep eutectic solvent media, and the majority displayed a redox couple that could be potentially assigned to the redox behaviour of the oxide moiety. Bulk anodic dissolution was carried out on the metal oxides, and it was shown that dissolution was enhanced to up to >10000 times in pH neutral solutions. The rate of electrochemical dissolution was shown to be influenced by the band gap of the compounds. It is proposed that oxidation of the oxide moiety, potentially to the superoxide, enables the solubilisation of the metal ions. The metal speciation appears to remain the same as for chemical dissolution

Separation of nickel from cobalt and manganese in lithium ion batteries using deep eutectic solvents

A cornerstone of the decarbonisation agenda is the use of lithium ion batteries, particularly for electric vehicles. It is essential that effective recycling protocols are developed and this includes the ability to selectively digest and recover components of the cathode materials, most commonly including manganese, cobalt and nickel. This study shows a method by which nickel oxide can be efficiently separated from cobalt and manganese oxides using an oxalic acid-based deep eutectic solvent. The subsequent addition of water to the pregnant solution enables the co-precipitation of cobalt and manganese oxalates. This permits a route to the reformulation of the active materials from high cobalt and manganese content to high nickel content

The effect of pH and hydrogen bond donor on the dissolution of metal oxides in deep eutectic solvents

The dissolution behaviour of a series of d- and p-block metal oxides was investigated in deep eutectic solvents, DES, to determine the effect of pH and hydrogen bond donor (HBD) coordination strength on their solubility. The solubility of metal oxides was found to be increased by a higher proton activity in DESs composed of poorly complexing HBDs, due to the ability of H+ to act as an oxygen acceptor. However, the employment of HBDs that have stronger complexing abilities was proven to have a greater effect on the solubility. The strongly coordinating HBDs increased metal oxide solubility via surface complexation reactions followed by ligand exchange for chloride in the bulk solvent. Differing selectivity for leaching of metal oxides was demonstrated, with solubility shown to be broadly dependent on lattice energy and Gibbs energy of formation of the metal oxide, while dissolution kinetics for metal oxides are shown to vary significantly. The results provide pathways to separation of metal oxides by dissolution in DES.</p

Undersøkelse av kjølevannsforhold i termiske kraftverk

In the design phase of business collaboration, it is desirable to be able to predict the profitability of the business-to-be. Therefore, techniques to assess qualities such as costs, revenues, risks, and profitability have been previously proposed. However, they do not allow the modeler to properly manage uncertainty with respect to the design of the considered business collaboration. In many real collaboration projects today, uncertainty regarding the business’ present or future characteristics is so significant that ignoring it becomes problematic. In this paper, we propose an approach based on the Predictive, Probabilistic Architecture Modeling Framework (P2AMF), capable of advanced and probabilistically sound reasoning about profitability risks. The P2AMF-based approach for profitability risk prediction is also based on the e3-value modeling language and on the Object Constraint Language (OCL). The paper introduces the prediction and modeling approach, and a supporting software tool. The use of the approach is illustrated by means of a case

Accessing polyanionic redox in high voltage Li-rich thiophosphates

In the search for novel positive electrode materials for lithium-ion cells, Li-rich sulfides are attracting increasing interest. Despite the success of polyoxyanion-based cathodes such as LiFePO4, their thiophosphate counterparts have remained largely unexplored. Here, the Li-rich thiophosphate Li2FeP2S6, which exhibits the highest known voltage (3 V) for a sulfide electrode, is investigated in a solid-state configuration. Through examination of isostructural transition-metal substitutions, we identify a novel Mn-substituted compound, Li2Fe0.8Mn0.2P2S6, with higher capacity than the parent Fe system while maintaining the high voltage. Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations indicate that Mn substitution activates P2S6 polyanionic redox involving interlayer S--S bond formation with no evidence of Fe or Mn cation migration, and increases capacity beyond the formal transition-metal redox limit. This demonstration of polyanionic redox in a thiophosphate material highlights the opportunity to explore alternative Li-rich thiophosphate structures as high-capacity lithium-ion cathodes