Recycling spent LiNi<sub>1-x-y</sub>Mn<sub>x</sub>Co<sub>y</sub>O<sub>2</sub> cathodes to bifunctional NiMnCo catalysts for zinc-air batteries.

Jiao, Miaolun; Zhang, Qi; Ye, Chenliang; Liu, Zhibo; Zhong, Xiongwei; Wang, Junxiong; Li, Chuang; Dai, Lixin et al. · Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · 2022

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

SignificanceIn recent years, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been widely applied in electric vehicles as energy storage devices. However, it is a great challenge to deal with the large number of spent LIBs. In this work, we employ a rapid thermal radiation method to convert the spent LIBs into highly efficient bifunctional NiMnCo-activated carbon (NiMnCo-AC) catalysts for zinc-air batteries (ZABs). The obtained NiMnCo-AC catalyst shows excellent electrochemical performance in ZABs due to the unique core-shell structure, with face-centered cubic Ni in the core and spinel NiMnCoO<sub>4</sub> in the shell. This work provides an economical and environment-friendly approach to recycling the spent LIBs and converting them into novel energy storage devices.