Precursor cathode active material

Example

See it in the plant

1. Balance the recipe: NMC 622 is LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2. Of the elements that must come from the loop, Mn runs out first, so it sets the batch: 7942 kg.
2. Co-precipitate: the nickel, cobalt and manganese sulfates are dissolved and precipitated together as a mixed hydroxide precursor, with ammonia controlling particle growth.
3. Top up: 70.3 kg of Li is bought virgin, which lowers the recycled content of Li.
4. Fire: the mixture is fired in ceramic trays and it becomes NMC622 cathode, with recycled content Li 88%, Ni 100%, Co 100%, Mn 100%.

Use in Lemonergy

Place operations and quality checks in process order.

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Connected concepts

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Calcination

Firing the precursor with a lithium source — lithium carbonate or, for high-nickel materials, lithium hydroxide — at 700–900 °C in kilns to form the layered oxide. Atmosphere and temperature profile control the crystal quality.

Cathode active material

The lithium-containing compound in the positive electrode — NMC, NCA, LFP or LCO powder — that supplies the cell’s cyclable lithium. It is the most expensive material in most cells and sets the nominal voltage and much of the energy density.

Nickel sulfate

The battery-grade nickel chemical fed to precursor plants, made from high-purity class 1 nickel or increasingly from Indonesian laterite ore by high-pressure acid leaching. It is the largest cost in a high-nickel cathode.

NMC

A family of layered-oxide positive electrode materials, LiNiₓMnᵧCo₁₋ₓ₋ᵧO₂, used in many electric-vehicle cells. Variants are named by their metal ratio: NMC811 has eight parts nickel to one each of manganese and cobalt.

References & further reading

Further reading on this topic

These sources provide broader context; they are not presented as citations for every statement in this entry.

1. Current and future lithium-ion battery manufacturing

   Yangtao Liu, Ruihan Zhang, Jun Wang, Yan Wang · iScience · 2021

   Topic background · Electrode preparation, cell assembly, formation and manufacturing trade-offs.