Cathode active material of lithium battery from nickel matte: Indonesia case study

Indonesia is the largest nickel producers in the world in form of nickel laterite ore, its reservation about 23.67% and production about 33% of world supply chain. It is smelted as ferro nickel and nickel matte. Nickel matte, with around 77% Ni, 1% Co and 0.3% Fe, could be used as nickel source in cathode active material synthesing, NMC by using nickel sulphate route. This study dealing with synthesizes cathode active material from nickel matte. The nickel matte was converted into nickel sulfate in certain condition and catalyst and then reacting with commercials Mangan Sulphate (MnSO4) and Cobalt Sulphate (CoSO4) (technical grade) resulting NMC. The type of active material was focused on NMC 111. Then, it was dopant using lithium carbonate in varied composition, 1.35% weights to 0.4 % weights. The product of Li - NMC 111 was characterized by using AAS for ratio composition and XRD for crystallography. Based on the diffractogram, as low as LiCO3 composition will give more purity crystal and better performance in the lithium ion battery. Based on its performance, initial charging test, the lithium ion battery has working voltage in the range of 3.0 VDC and 4.2 VDC, with capacity of 0.4 mAH with stability for 30 hours of charge – discharge cycle.