A Comprehensive Analytical Procedure and Environmental Behavior of Lithium-Ion Battery-Related Fluorinated Anions and
Zhuofan Shi1,2, Feiyue Zhu1,2, Feiyang Liu1,2
1Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Environment and Health of New Pollutants, School of Environment, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou 310024, China.
Abstract:
The surge of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) may lead to the release of emerging contaminants into the environment. Fluorinated anions are widely applied in LIB electrolytes; however, systematic analytical methods for their quantification across diverse environmental matrices remain scarce. In this study, we developed a sensitive and reliable LC-MS/MS method to simultaneously quantify 12 LIB-related fluorinated anions in multiple environmental matrices, including water, soil, plant, and fish muscle. The target analytes included five inorganic species─tetrafluoroborate (BF4-), hexafluorophosphate (PF6-), difluorophosphate, hexafluoroarsenate, and bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide; five ultrashort-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances─trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, pentafluoropropanoic acid, pentafluoroethanesulfonic acid, and perfluoropropanesulfonic acid; and two bis-perfluoroalkyl sulfonimides─bis(trifluoromethyl)sulfonimide and bis(pentafluoroethyl)sulfonimide. With the optimized sample pretreatment procedures, spiked recoveries ranged from 69% to 125% for all sample types. The method detection limits for all 12 LIB-related fluorinated anions were 0.01-0.07 ng/mL in surface water, and 0.05-2.89 ng/g in soil, plant, and fish muscle samples. We further applied this method to multiple environmental matrices collected near LIB electrolyte production facilities. TFA was the predominant analyte in surface water, soil, and plant samples, while BF4- and PF6- were the dominant inorganic fluorinated anions. The results revealed the widespread occurrence of these fluorinated anions across environmental matrices and the accumulation potential of both organic and inorganic species in plants. Overall, this work provides a comprehensive analytical procedure for monitoring LIB-related fluorinated anions in the environment, enabling further research into their occurrence, transformation, and ecological risk.
More Related Videos
07:06Investigating Long-Distance Transport of Perfluoroalkyl Acids in Wheat via a Split-Root Exposure Technique
Published on: September 28, 2022
11:04Synthesis of Ionic Liquid Based Electrolytes, Assembly of Li-ion Batteries, and Measurements of Performance at High Temperature
Published on: December 20, 2016