Value-Added Reutilization, Recycling of Lithium-Ion Batteries

The demand of lithium-ion batteries is quickly increasing largely due to the increased production of electric vehicles.  This rise in battery production will lead to an equivalent rise in waste as these batteries are consumed and discarded.  Currently only about 5% of lithium-ion batteries are recycled¹.  This low level of recycling is in part due to the cost to recycle and the limitations of the current technologies available at an industrial scale. Pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and pyrometallurgy/hydrometallurgy combination are currently being used to recycle lithium-ion batteries on an industrial scale.  Direct recycling methods are the focus of much current research and is a promising emerging technology. 

Value-added reutilization is another focus area of research for the recycling of lithium-ion batteries.  This consists of using the spent batteries as starting material to synthesize new materials.  This presentation will be discussing some of the promising research.  The first is an original recycling method for Li-ion batteries through large scale production of metal organic frameworks².  The next technique discussed will be sustainable preparation of Li Ni_1/3 CO_1/3 MN_1/3 O₂–V₂O₅ cathode materials by recycling waste materials of spent lithium-ion battery and vanadium-bearing slag³.  Lastly, this presentation will discuss synergistic recycling and conversion of spent Li-ion battery leachate into highly efficient oxygen evolution catalysts⁴.

1. Natarajan, S., & Aravindan, V. (2018). Recycling strategies for spent Li-ion battery mixed cathodes. ACS Energy Letters, 3(9), 2101–2103. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.8b01233
2. Chen, Z., Zou, W., Zheng, R., Wei, W., Wei, W., Ni, B.-J., & Chen, H. (2021). Synergistic recycling and conversion of spent Li-ion battery leachate into highly efficient oxygen evolution catalysts. Green Chemistry, 23(17), 6538–6547. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1gc01578h
3. Meng, X., Cao, H., Hao, J., Ning, P., Xu, G., & Sun, Z. (2018). Sustainable preparation of Lini1/3CO1/3MN1/3O2–V2O5 cathode materials by recycling waste materials of spent lithium-ion battery and vanadium-bearing slag. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 6(5), 5797–5805. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b03880
4. Chen, Z., Zou, W., Zheng, R., Wei, W., Wei, W., Ni, B.-J., & Chen, H. (2021). Synergistic recycling and conversion of spent Li-ion battery leachate into highly efficient oxygen evolution catalysts. Green Chemistry, 23(17), 6538–6547. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1gc01578h