As new battery materials for electronic vehicles are developed and manufactured in large scales, nanoscale lithium-intercalating cathode materials are likely to enter the environment in large quantities. In this study, we examined the impact of liquid suspensions of nanoscale nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) with varying compositions and lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) to a model bacterium, Bacillus subtilis. We observed that bacterial respiration was impacted by the presence of the NMC materials, and endospores were induced in Mn-enriched NMC suspensions. DNA damage assessed by single-cell electrophoresis was also identified. Results showed that the dissolved Ni2+ is largely responsible to the observed toxicity, and the dissolution of the material was dependent on solution composition.

Biological Impact of nanoscale lithium-intercalating battery materials to model bacterium Bacillus subtilis

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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