Electrophoresis · 2016 · 13 citations · 31 references
In this work, we present a novel electrophoretic method that was developed for the determination of lithium and transition metals in LiNi<sub>1/3</sub> Co<sub>1/3</sub> Mn<sub>1/3</sub> O<sub>2</sub> cathode material after microwave digestion. The cations in the digested LiNi<sub>1/3</sub> Co<sub>1/3</sub> Mn<sub>1/3</sub> O<sub>2</sub> material were separated by CE and the element content was determined by UV/Vis detection. To characterize the precision of the measurements, the RSDs and concentrations were calculated and compared to those obtained with ICP-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Furthermore, a certified reference material (BCR 176R-fly ash) was investigated for all techniques. For active material components, the LOD and LOQ were determined. The LODs and LOQs for the metals determined by CE were as follows: lithium (LOD/LOQ): 17.41/62.70 μg/L, cobalt (LOD/LOQ): 348.4/1283 μg/L, manganese (LOD/LOQ): 540.2/2095 μg/L, and nickel (LOD/LOQ): 838.0/2982 μg/L. Recovery rates for lithium were in the range of 95-103%. It could be proven that with the new technique, the results for the determination of the lithium content of active material were comparable with those obtained by ICP-OES and ion chromatography. Furthermore, the recovery rates of the transition metals were determined to be between 96 and 110% by CE and ICP-OES.
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