Abstract:Nickel-cobalt-manganese layered metal oxide (NCM) materials are the main cathode materials in lithium-ion batteries. However, as lithium-ion batteries continue to cycle, their capacity decreases due to lithium deficiency and phase transitions in the cathode materials. As the demand for lithium-ion batteries is increasing, lithium-ion batteries will also face more and more serious recycling problems. The eutectic molten salt method has been shown to be good for direct regeneration of used cathode materials. We discovered a eutectic molten salt system with a lower eutectic temperature, and successfully regenerated NCM cathode particles by this system, which restored the ideal stoichiometric ratio, reduced the degree of lithium-nickel mixing, and repaired the crystal structure. In addition, the regenerated cathode materials were tested by assembled batteries and verified to possess good electrochemical performance: the initial discharge specific capacity was 157.9 mAh g-1, which remained at 148.3 mAh g-1 after 100 cycles at a current density of 0.2 C, and the rate capacity was 39.5 mAh g-1 (10 C). Our work represents a low-temperature, simple and effective method for direct regeneration of cathode materials, which opens up more possibilities in the field of direct regeneration of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries.