A Material-Oriented Metallurgical Strategy to Prepare LiNi_0.8Co_0.15Al_0.05O₂ Cathode Material from Low-Nickel Matte

The exhaustion of conventional nickel and cobalt ores has resulted in the rapid rising of the cost of cathode materials, which has seriously restricted the further development of the electric vehicle industry. Considering the whole production chain from ores to cathode materials, the efficient utilization of low-grade complex resources and simplifying the process can significantly reduce the cost. In this work, a material-oriented metallurgical strategy has been proposed for the direct preparation of LiNi_0.8Co_0.15Al_0.05O₂ cathode material from low-nickel matte. This novel process consists of selective sulfuric acid leaching, directional lixivium purification, and material preparation, omitting the steps of preparing pure metal salts. In total, 94.18% of Ni and 96.24% of Co in the low-nickel matte can be effectively utilized to prepare LiNi_0.8Co_0.15Al_0.05O₂, and this cathode material shows comparable electrochemical properties to that prepared from pure chemical reagents, verifying the feasibility of the strategy.