Comprehensive recycling of spent lithium-ion battery cathodes and anodes via a targeted electrochemical redox process

Abstract

The surge in the electric vehicle (EV) industry in recent decades has produced an enormous amount of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Cathodes and anodes, accounting for 60% of the total weight and 63% of the total cost of the LIBs, have long been treated or recycled separately, which has significantly increased the environmental burden. Here, we report an innovative targeted electroredox approach, which possesses the potential to output electricity during the leaching process, to achieve the comprehensive recycling of spent LIB cathodes (98% Li⁺, 99% Co²⁺) and anodes (99% Cu²⁺ and graphite) with simple pretreatment under mild conditions. The targeted oxidization of Cu and Al not only liberates anode active materials from the current collector but also suppresses the oxygen evolution reaction on the anode, which induces extremely low energy consumption and has low global warming potential. A preliminary pilot-scale experiment with mixed spent LIBs verifies the efficiency and feasibility of 2nd generation ECL.