Recovery of Cobalt and Lithium by Carbothermic Reduction of LiCoO2 Cathode Material: A Kinetic Study

Recycling of Li-ion battery cathode materials using carbon from the anode via carbothermic reduction would provide a process option that could be carried out without introducing any external reactants. From this basis, study investigated and examined kinetics LiCoO2 at 700 °C to 1100 under inert atmosphere up 240 minutes reaction time an isothermal mass change analysis combined with detailed microstructure evolution observation. The overall mechanism appeared involve diffusion oxygen in during its thermal decomposition first stage, followed by nucleation cobalt second stage. activation energy stages were calculated 121 95 kJ/mol, respectively. analyses showed complex phases. At 900 °C, Li2CO3 Co phases observed as product reductions; while 1000 Li2O observed. information data obtained are useful when comparing different recycling methods optimizing parameters for spent batteries.