Exploring threshold of Al-impurities towards high-performance Al-doped Regenerated LiCoO2

Direct regeneration, as the main recycling manner, displays the short-process and high economic value, which has been devoted to considerable attentions. Limited by the existed pre-treatments, there are still some Al-impurities of spent material, resulting in the unstable electrochemical properties of regenerated material, meanwhile the excessive removal of Al-impurities brings the risk of regeneration cost. Thus, exploring the threshold reference of Al-impurities is urgent for regeneration of spent materials. Herein, through the introduction of Al₂O₃ with different content, spent LiCoO₂ were successfully regenerated, displaying the evolution of physical-chemical properties. With suitable Al adding (0.02 wt.%), the broadening layer distance and storage space are found. As a cathode, the as-optimized sample shows a capacity of 172.7 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.2 C, and the capacity retention was 84 % after 500 cycles at 5.0 C, even better than Al-impurity-free regenerated sample. Supported by the detailed kinetic analysis, it could be deduced that, suitable Al-introduction is beneficial for the fast insertion/extraction of ions, meanwhile too excess adding could bring about the blocking of diffusion paths and by-production surface stacking. Given this, this work is expected to shed light on the physical-chemical effect of Al-impurities, meanwhile offering the threshold reference for Al-doping content in practical regenerated industry.