Soil pollution element content and size distribution of particles released by abused prismatic Ni-rich automotive lithium-ion batteries

Heavy metal pollution elements in China’s soil mainly include nickel, copper, zinc, chromium, cadmium, mercury, lead and arsenic. One of their sources in the future may be lithium-ion batteries due to its large-scale application on vehicles. This is because the particulate matter released by lithium-ion batteries during eruption and combustion caused by thermal runaway may contain these elements. The aim of this study is to reveal four heavy metal element content and size distribution of particulate matter released by abused prismatic Ni-rich automotive lithium-ion batteries. A fully charged commercial 50 Ah Li(Ni 0.6 Mn 0.2 Co 0.2 )O 2 cell was triggered by heating in a sealed chamber at nitrogen environment. The particulate matter with size being below 500 μm were divided into three samples using sieves. Four soil pollution elements, including nickel, copper, zinc, chromium, were detected, and sizes were analyzed. The results show that all these four elements are found, and nickel and copper are found in all samples. These particulate matter account for 1.7% of the cell mass, with the minimum size and median size being approximately 1.45 μm and 162.9 um. The element content reveals the pollution from LIBs and the size distribution provides a basis for the design of the particle filter pore.