Converting spent lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) cathode materials into environmental catalysts has drawn more and more attention. Herein, we fabricated a Co3O4‐based catalyst from spent LiCoO2 LIBs (Co3O4‐LIBs) and found that the role of Al and Cu from current collectors on its performance is nonnegligible. The density functional theory calculations confirmed that the doping of Al and/or Cu upshifts the d‐band center of Co. A Fenton‐like reaction based on peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation was adopted to evaluate its activity. Interestingly, Al doping strengthened chemisorption for PMS (from ‐2.615 eV to ‐2.623 eV) and shortened Co‐O bond length (from 2.540 Å to 2.344 Å) between them, whereas Cu doping reduced interfacial charge‐transfer resistance (from 28.347 kΩ to 6.689 kΩ) excepting for the enhancement of the above characteristics. As expected, the degradation activity toward bisphenol A of Co3O4‐LIBs (0.523 min‐1) was superior to that of Co3O4 prepared from commercial CoC2O4 (0.287 min‐1). Simultaneously, the reasons for improved activity were further verified by comparing activity with catalysts doped Al and/or Cu into Co3O4. This work reveals the role of elements from current collectors on the performance of functional materials from spent LIBs, which is beneficial to the sustainable utilization of spent LIBs.

中文翻译：

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用废锂离子电池构建高性能钴基环境催化剂：揭示集电器中铜和铝被忽视的作用


将废旧锂离子电池（LIB）正极材料转化为环境催化剂已引起越来越多的关注。在此，我们用废 LiCoO2 LIB（Co3O4-LIB）制造了一种 Co3O4 基催化剂，并发现集流体中的 Al 和 Cu 对其性能的作用不可忽视。密度泛函理论计算证实，Al和/或Cu的掺杂使Co的d带中心上移。采用基于过一硫酸盐（PMS）活化的类芬顿反应来评估其活性。有趣的是，Al掺杂增强了PMS的化学吸附（从‐2.615 eV到‐2.623 eV）并缩短了它们之间的Co-O键长（从2.540 Å到2.344 Å），而Cu掺杂降低了界面电荷转移电阻（从28.347 kΩ到6.689 kΩ），除了上述特性的增强。正如预期的那样，Co3O4-LIBs 对双酚 A 的降解活性 (0.523 min-1) 优于由商业 CoC2O4 制备的 Co3O4 (0.287 min-1)。同时，通过与Co3O4中掺杂Al和/或Cu的催化剂的活性比较，进一步验证了活性提高的原因。这项工作揭示了集流体中的元素对废锂离子电池功能材料性能的作用，这有利于废锂离子电池的可持续利用。