Re-evaluation of battery-grade lithium purity toward sustainable batteries

Gogwon Choe, Hyungsub Kim, Jaesub Kwon, Woochul Jung (), Kyu-Young Park () and Yong-Tae Kim ()
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Gogwon Choe: Pohang University of Science and Technology
Hyungsub Kim: Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI)
Jaesub Kwon: Pohang University of Science and Technology
Woochul Jung: Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (RIST)
Kyu-Young Park: Pohang University of Science and Technology
Yong-Tae Kim: Pohang University of Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Recently, the cost of lithium-ion batteries has risen as the price of lithium raw materials has soared and fluctuated. Notably, the highest cost of lithium production comes from the impurity elimination process to satisfy the battery-grade purity of over 99.5%. Consequently, re-evaluating the impact of purity becomes imperative for affordable lithium-ion batteries. In this study, we unveil that a 1% Mg impurity in the lithium precursor proves beneficial for both the lithium production process and the electrochemical performance of resulting cathodes. This is attributed to the increased nucleation seeds and unexpected site-selective doping effects. Moreover, when extended to an industrial scale, low-grade lithium is found to reduce production costs and CO2 emissions by up to 19.4% and 9.0%, respectively. This work offers valuable insights into the genuine sustainability of lithium-ion batteries.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-44812-3

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