As a starting point, the following conditions were used: 0.5 g of cathode material were added to 20 ml of 1.25M (solid to liquid ratio of 1:40) and heated at 70°C. The data suggest the spinel phase can be removed in as little as 5 minutes using the conditions outlined above (confirmed by PXRD and XRF data, Figure ) leaving behind the Ni-rich layered oxide phase. Removal of the spinel phase can be seen in the PXRD data (Figure ) as highlighted in red. After the spinel phase was removed, the appearance of a shoulder in the PXRD data was observed on the peak at ~19 o 2-theta. Although it is difficult to say with certainty from PXRD data alone, we believe that this shoulder can be attributed to a second layered oxide (LO2) phase associated with degradation processes. When such a second phase was introduced into the refinement, a good fit to the data was obtained. The cell parameters for the two phases are shown in Table . The second layered oxide phase present accounts for approximately 9 wt% of the phases present and shows a smaller c-parameter compared to that of LO1, consistent with the shoulder appearing to the right of the (003) peak. This suggests there may be some delithiation which is also supported by the ICP data (see later)