To understand better the effects of the ascorbic acid treatment on the recycled cathode material, STEM-EDX mapping was carried out to generate nanometre-scale resolution imaging and chemical identification. The raw cathode material without any chemical treatment was found to be composed of two distinct solid crystalline phases mixed along with the expected carbon additive and binder. The phases can be clearly distinguished in the STEM-EDX maps shown in Figure . by their different Mn and Ni contents, with the Mn-rich phase in red attributed to the spinel phase in the PXRD, and the Ni-rich phase in cyan attributed to the layeredoxide phase. The two phases consisted of primary particles (continuous crystalline domains) of up to 2 μm in length along with smaller fragments embedded in the binder. These smaller crystallite domains may be the origin of the broadened peaks in the PXRD spectra and may be evidence of the cycling-induced damage that cathode materials undergo during their lifecycle.