Efficient Recovery of Value Metals from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries by Combining Deep Eutectic Solvents and Coextraction

The advancement of the electric vehicle industry has inevitably resulted in the increased production and numerous scraps of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), among which the nickel cobalt manganese ternary material has become the fastest growing and largest proportion material in the lithium battery cathode material market. Therefore, a practical and effective method to recycle spent LIBs must be established. In this study, an efficient recycling method was proposed to leach value metals from cathode materials via the excellent solubility of deep eutectic solvents to metals, and regenerated LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 was prepared via coextraction and coprecipitation. 91.63% of Li, 92.52% of Co, 94.92% of Ni, and 95.47% of Mn are leached from the recycled cathode electrode. The kinetic experiments indicated that the leaching process fitted well to the shrinking core model controlled by chemical reactions. The value metals could be extracted with high efficiencies by adjusting the operating parameters in the step of coextraction. Moreover, the electrochemical tests of the regenerated ternary material revealed that the material had an excellent electrochemical performance. The proposed method, which can realize the sustainable development of spent LIBs, has great potential in the deep recycling of spent LIBs.