Recycled Cathode Active Material, Method For Recycling Cathode Active Material, And Secondary Battery Comprising Same

Abstract: The present invention relates to a recycled cathode active material, a method for recycling a cathode active material, and a secondary battery comprising same and, more specifically, a recycled cathode active material, a method for recycling a cathode active material, and a secondary battery comprising same, the recycled cathode active material being at least one selected from the group consisting of a lithium nickel oxide (LNO)-based cathode active material, a nickel·cobalt·manganese(NCM)-based cathode active material, a nickel·cobalt·aluminum (NCA)-based cathode active material, and a nickel·cobalt·manganese·aluminum (NCMA)-based cathode active material, comprising 60 mol% or greater of Ni, having a fluorine (F) content of 250 mg/kg or less, and having a crystallite size of 122 nm or less. According to the present invention, a waste cathode using a high-Ni cathode material is subjected to oxidation heat treatment by adding oxygen, followed by first washing, addition of a lithium precursor, annealing, and second washing, thereby reducing the content of fluorine (F) on the surface of a recycled cathode active material, and furthermore, the oxidation heat treatment step is carried out in two stages so that a binder burns cleanly, and fluorine (F) and residual lithium generated in the heat treatment step are reduced, resulting in a reduced crystallite size, thus providing a cathode active material with excellent charging capacity, resistance characteristics and capacity characteristics. Also, the present invention has the effect of providing a method for recycling a cathode active material, and the like, in which the method is eco-friendly since no acid is used in recovery and recycling processes, which does not require neutralization and wastewater treatment, thus reducing process costs, the cathode active material is directly recycled without decomposition, so there are no discarded metal elements, there is no risk of toxic gas generation or explosion since an organic solvent is not used, and in particular, economic efficiency and productivity are remarkably improved due to an omitted washing process.

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