A team of researchers has developed a technology for directly recycling spent cathode materials from lithium-ion batteries which they said can restore spent batteries to 100% of their original capacity.
Their approach restores the spent cathode to its original state by immersing it in a restoration solution under ambient temperature and pressure.
According to the team at the Gwangju Clean Energy Research Center of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), the key technology involves the application of galvanic corrosion.
Galvanic corrosion occurs when two different metals are in contact within an electrolyte environment, leading to the selective corrosion of one metal to protect the other. The bromine in the restoration solution used initiates spontaneous corrosion on contact with the aluminium in the spent battery. Electrons are released from the corroded aluminium and transferred to the spent cathode material. “To maintain charge neutrality, lithium ions in the restoration solution are inserted into the cathode material. This recovery of lithium ions restores the cathode material to its original state,” the KIER researchers said.
Unlike recycling methods that require disassembly of the spent battery, the restoration reaction takes place directly within the cell, “significantly” enhancing the efficiency of the process, the team said. The research team confirmed through electrochemical performance testing that the restored cathode achieved a capacity equivalent to that of new materials.
Senior researcher Jung-Je Woo said: “This research introduces a novel approach to restoring spent cathode materials without the need for high-temperature heat treatment or harmful chemicals. The direct recycling of discarded electric vehicle batteries holds great potential for significantly reducing carbon emissions and establishing a circular resource economy.”
By 2040, there could be as many as 40 million decommissioned electric vehicles which means finding better recycling technologies for end-of-life Li-ion batteries has become a top priority.
“The development of an economically feasible, environmentally friendly, and reliable relithiation method will serve as a key viability of direct cathode recycling strategies,” the researchers said the paper published in Advanced Energy Materials, adding “the strategy demands fewer resources and less energy, aligning with CO2 emission reduction and contributing to the responsible and sustainable use of [Li-ion batteries]. Thus, we believe that our work provides significantly new insights for advancing the battery recycling field.”
In conventional battery recycling, a typical method involves crushing spent batteries and extracting metals such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt through chemical processes. But this generates wastewater, and it requires substantial energy consumption through the use of high-temperature furnaces. Direct recycling technology, which recovers and restores original materials without chemical alteration, has been attracting growing interest but also requires high-temperature and high-pressure conditions, which can make it both time-consuming and costly.
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