Upcycling spent lithium battery cathodes into efficient PMS catalysts for organic contaminants degradation

The rapid accumulation of spent lithium-ion batteries (SLIBs) poses a global challenge in terms of their disposal and management. Considering the substantial quantity of transition metals contained in SLIBs, the preparation of derived catalysts for environmental remediation has emerged as a promising approach for the recycling of SLIBs. Herein, the citric acid-based sol-gel method was employed to synthesize the catalyst from SLIBs. The derived spent cathode material (LiNi x Co y Mn 1−x-y O 2 , NCM) composites exhibit superior catalytic activity and display higher adaptability to the environment, effectively removing typical azo dye, methylene blue (MB), as well as various organic contaminants , sulfamethoxazole (SMX), levofloxacin (LVF) and rhodamine B (RhB) in 30 min. The Co 2+ and Mn 2+ ions in the catalyst play a crucial role in activating PMS to generate 1 O 2 and O 2 •− . The degradation of MB proceeds through several reaction pathways, including demethylation, oxidation , and ring-opening reactions, as confirmed by the Fukui function and UPLC-QTOF-MS analyses. The assessment of toxicity in the degradation products was conducted using T.E.S.T. and ECOSAR 2.0. This proposed method can be highly suggested as a promising strategy for the recycling and utilization of SLIBs, transforming them into efficient catalysts for PMS systems in environmental remediation.