A team including University of Tokyo researchers has presented a viable alternative to cobalt metal that it says can outperform current lithium-ion battery (LIB) chemistry. The researchers claim that the new electrodes and electrolyte are cobalt-free, improve battery chemistry, and last for many recharge cycles. The new LIBs can deliver 4.4 V, compared to the… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "cobalt"
Nth Cycle opens nickel and cobalt production facility in US
Nth Cycle, a metals extraction and recycling firm, has inaugurated a 21,000-square-foot refining plant in Fairfield, Ohio to provide a US source of nickel and cobalt chemicals for lithium-ion batteries. Nth Cycle’s electro-extraction technology will convert metal scrap, electronics waste, undeveloped mining resources and refinery waste into nickel and cobalt through its premium Mixed Hydroxide… Read more »
LithTech launches novel raw material extraction technology for lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper and graphite
LithTech, an Australian firm, has announced its 2023 capital raising drive to enhance its magnesium separation process, which increases the brine extraction of essential raw elements, including nickel, lithium, cobalt, copper and natural graphite, used in EV batteries. After lab-scale testing, the Dow Centre at the University of Queensland has provided financial and technical support,… Read more »
Leclanché’s aqueous process reduces cobalt usage in NMCA cells, eliminates toxic solvent
Swiss battery maker Leclanché says it has found a way to reduce the cobalt content in nickel-cobalt-manganese-aluminum oxide (NMCA) cathodes from 20% to 5%, by using in a new environmentally friendly water-based process. The company’s G/NMCA cell has a nickel content of around 90%, which it says increases energy density and enables the reduction in… Read more »
Researchers develop cobalt-free cathodes using hydrothermal synthesis
Researchers at the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed a new method for producing cathodes for lithium-ion batteries by relying on hydrothermal synthesis, which eliminates the need to use cobalt, making the process quicker, less wasteful and less toxic. They describe their work in: “Hydrothermal synthesis of Co-free NMA cathodes for high-performance Li-ion… Read more »
Researchers develop cobalt-free cathode using high-entropy doping
A team of researchers from UC Irvine and four national laboratories has fabricated a cobalt-free cathode for lithium-ion batteries. The researchers relied on doping using HE-LMNO and magnesium, titanium, manganese, molybdenum and niobium inside the structure to fabricate a high-nickel cathode. “Through a technique we refer to as ‘high-entropy doping,’ we were able to successfully… Read more »
LG Energy Solution partners with three Canadian cobalt and lithium suppliers
LG Energy Solution has signed separate partnership agreements with three mineral suppliers in Canada. LGES will purchase cobalt from Electra Battery Materials, and lithium from Snow Lake Resources and Avalon Advanced Materials. LGES signed a binding term sheet with Electra, which will supply 7,000 tons of cobalt sulfate for three years starting in 2023. Electra… Read more »
Renault and Managem Group partner on cobalt sulfate supply
Renault and Moroccan mining company Managem Group have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the sustainable supply of battery materials. According to Renault, “In 2019, the responsible production of cobalt by Managem Group was confirmed by certification according to the standards of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI), as well as by evaluations by NQC… Read more »
GM and Glencore enter multi-year cobalt supply agreement
GM and mining giant Glencore have announced a multi-year sourcing agreement under which Glencore will supply GM with cobalt from its Murrin Murrin operation in Australia, to be used in GM’s Ultium battery cathodes. Both Glencore and GM are members of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI), and Glencore’s Murrin Murrin operation conforms to the OECD-aligned… Read more »
The high cost of cobalt cathodes and some potential alternatives
According to an article published in Advanced Energy Materials by researchers at the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), cobalt is currently the most expensive cathode material used in lithium-ion batteries. The DOE says cobalt accounts for about a quarter of the cost of a typical battery, and was the most expensive cathode material in… Read more »