b'The crystallization process of nickel (80 wt.%), manganese (10 wt.%), and cobalt (10 wt.%) hydroxide precursor inside the process reactor. Scanning electron microscopy images show the precursor with (a) 12 minutes reaction time, (b) 1 hour reaction time, and (c) 24 hours reaction time.sulfate impurity, the NMC precursor unit cell lengths are a =INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY:3.130, b = 3.130 and c = 4.635, which are consistent with theQiang Wang, Robert V. Fox, Methods for Recovering Elements values reported in the literature. With sodium sulfate, the unitfrom a Waste Material, PCT/US2023/074002, September 2023.cell lengths are a = 3.123, b = 3.123 and c = 4.630. Those NMC precursors were fabricated into batteries and the electrochemical performance is being tested. From the tape density and x-ray diffraction data, the residual solution containing sodium sulfate can be reused as the ammonium hydroxide source to synthesize industrial standard NMC precursor, and the sodium sulfate concentration can be controlled to 1 molL -1through temperature adjustment, further limiting its influence on the crystallization of NMC precursor. Through observing the growth of particles with reaction time, the crystallization mechanism of spherical particles was also revealed in this project. 89'