LiFePO4/C cathode material is largely used in Li-ion batteries due to its low toxicity, nonhazardous and high stability features. A facile and simple approach is proposed in LiFePO4/C production using low-cost materials. The effect of carbon addition during the formation of LiFePO4/C was investigated. Based on the XRD and FTIR analyses, olivine-structured LiFePO4/C cathode material was successfully obtained via methanol-based rheological method. The SEM result showed that the material has micron-sized polyhedral shape. The electrochemical performance tests were conducted in an 18,650-type cylindrical battery. The charge–discharge performances were tested at a voltage range of 2.2–3.65 V using charge and discharge rate of 1C. Based on the charge–discharge test, LiFePO4 with 30% carbon addition has the highest specific capacity of 121 mA h/g with excellent cycle and rate performance as a result of successful carbon compositing in LiFePO4 material. This approach is promising to be adapted for mass production of LiFePO4/C.

Li-ion secondary battery is highly recommended as a power source to highly advanced battery electric vehicles. Among various types, the lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA) battery is considered suitable for high energy and power application. In this study, the NCA cathode material LiNi0.89Co0.08Al0.03O2 was produced via the oxalate co-precipitation technique to reduce the overall production cost and process complexity. Oxalic acid and a small amount of sodium hydroxide were used as the precipitant and pH regulator, respectively. Homogenous and loose metal oxalate precipitate formation was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. XRD patterns of the as-obtained micron-sized NCA showed a well-layered hexagonal structure. The electrochemical properties of the cathode in the full cell were thoroughly examined. The specific discharge capacity of the as-obtained NCA in NCA/LiPF6/graphite at a current rate of 20 mA/g was 142 mAh/g. The as-prepared NCA sample had capacity retention of 80% after being charged and discharged at 0.1 A/g for 101 cycles. Scaling up of NCA production process to 2 kg per batch was conducted and evaluation of NCA product quality was performed by material characterization. Based on the overall results and considering the overall process, such an approach is expected to be developed and improved for future large-scale production purposes.

LiCoO₂ cathode material has been continuously applied in commercial LIBs cells. It has high gravimetric and volumetric density. In this research, an economical approach to obtain LiCoO₂ is proposed. Pure cobalt oxide (Co₃O₄) precursor was obtained via atmospheric precipitation of cobalt sulfate and thermal decomposition of the as-obtained hydroxide precursor. The next heat treatment was performed to obtain LiCoO₂ powder. To investigate the characteristic of the precursor and the final product, XRD, FTIR, and SEM analysis were conducted. The final product has hexagonal structure and quasi spherical morphology. The size of the particle is in micron. The charge-discharge analysis of LiCoO₂ was conducted in LiCoO₂/Graphite system where the initial capacity of LiCoO₂ is 120 mAh/g at the current density of 0.1 C (20 mA/g). Overall, this method can be used for large scale LiCoO­₂ cell production.

A high-quality Lithium Nickel Manganese Oxide (LiNi0.7Mn0.3O2) material is successfully synthesized via co-precipitation. The precursors for lithium rechargeable batteries have been prepared using starting materials (NiCl2.6H2O and MnSO4.H2O) with precipitating agents of oxalic acid and sodium hydroxide, Ethylene diamine tetra acetic (EDTA) and sodium hydroxide, and sodium carbonate for oxalate co-precipitation, hydroxide co-precipitation, and carbonate co-precipitation, respectively. Then, the precursors were calcined at 500°C for 5 hours, mixed with Li2CO3, and sintered at 850°C for 15 hours under oxygen. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis results show that the particles obtained by oxalate co-precipitation (LiNi0.7Mn0.3O2-C2O4) have higher crystallinity and more uniform particle shape than hydroxide co-precipitation and carbonate co-precipitation. The Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy characterization shows no carbonate group peak in the LiNi0.7Mn0.3O2-C2O4. Furthermore, electrochemical tests were analyzed by evaluating the charge/discharge curves and cycling performance. The highest specific discharge capacity of 122 mAh/g was achieved by the LiNi0.7Mn0.3O2-C2O4 sample, which also had a low capacity loss (22.7%), retaining 89.9% of its initial specific capacity at 0.5C between 2.5 and 4.25 V after 45 cycles. Based on these results, a cheap cobalt-free cathode material is promising for a new commercialized Li-ion battery.

Significant demand of Li-ion batteries (LIBs) is raising awareness of future LIBs wastes which are highly required to be reprocessed, reused or recycled. In this research, copper foil waste from spent LIBs are upcycled as an anode material, CuO. Hydrometallurgical route was applied to selectively dissolve copper foils where nitric acid, maleic acid and acetic acid were used as the leaching agents while oxalic acid were used to precipitate copper into copper oxalate which is a precursor to CuO. CuO was obtained by calcination of copper oxalate at high temperature. Based on XRD and FTIR analysis, Copper (II) oxalate dihydrates is successfully obtained while SEM images of the samples confirmed micron sized agglomerates which is consist of submicron primary particles. XRD analysis of CuO samples obtained from various leaching process confirmed that a pure CuO is successfully synthesized from nitric acid leaching process while CuO from acetic acid and maleic acid leaching has Cu2O and Cu phase. CuO and 10%CuO@graphite sample from nitric acid leaching were used as sole anode and composite anode in a LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2(NCM) battery, respectively. The initial columbic efficiency of CuO anode was far inferior to CuO@graphite. However, CuO@graphite had higher specific charge-discharge capacity with the value of 347.8 mAh/g compared to pure graphite (286.5 mAh/g). In conclusion, Cu-foils are a promising source of CuO to enhance the capacity of commercial graphite anode.