Synthesis, characterization and catalytic properties of cobalt oxide recovered from spent lithium-ion batteries

MARCOCCIA CARLA; PELUSO M.; JORGE E. SAMBETH

JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR CATALYSIS A-CHEMICAL

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2020 vol. 481

1381-1169

Cobalt oxide was synthesized after a biohydrometallurgicalprocess to recycle lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) from laptops. Afterseparating the components of the spent LIBs, the cathodic material wasleached with a biogenerated sulfuric acid at room temperature. Using 5%v/v H2O2 at 2 h, 60% Co was solubilized. After three successivelixiviation steps, 95% cobalt was solubilized. A cobalt oxide (CoOx-R)was obtained by precipitation with H2C2O4 and calcination at 500 ºC, andwas compared to both a cobalt oxide synthesized in the same way but usinga commercial cobalt salt (CoOx) and the cathodic material before leaching(LiCo). The characterization by XRD, FTIR, XPS and TPR demonstrated thepresence of Co3O4 in CoOx and CoOx-R and LiCoO2 phase in LiCo sample.CoOx and CoOx-R are better catalysts for VOC oxidation than LiCo due tohigher SBET and the presence of the Co3O4. CoOx has a lower temperaturefor ethanol total oxidation but CoOx-R produces less acetaldehyde thanCoOx. On the other hand, in toluene oxidation CoOx and CoOx-R present asimilar performance, with a complete conversion near 300 ºC. Cobalt oxideobtained using spent LIBs batteries as raw materials could be used ascatalysts for VOC removal.