Results: Recycled Lithium-Ion Batteries

Working in tandem, a group of 27 researchers from institutions like the Argonne National Laboratory and the Brookhaven National Laboratory tweaked the composition of recycled lithium-ion batteries to see how they would perform and achieved some surprising results. To reach their unexpected conclusions, the scientists behind the study made some changes to the cathode, which is the key (and most expensive) component within a typical lithium-ion battery. Do you currently recycle your personal electronics that have lithium-ion batteries?

Rather than melting down the entire used battery (as most other recycling processes do), the team was able to salvage the cathode and merely change its structure, resulting in better performance than even a new battery can offer. Kang Xu, a U.S. Army Research Laboratory scientist unaffiliated with the study, told Scientific American that the research team's results were "very unique and very impressive." The study's findings also have the potential to be combined with similar research involving recycled anodes, the counterparts of cathodes. Improved lithium-ion battery recycling will not only help the environment and consumers but businesses as well. Do you agree?

"Battery manufacturers want to know that recycled cathode materials are not inferior to new cathode materials," said Yan Wang, a scientist from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute who contributed to the Joule study. "This research shows that recycled materials can electrochemically match or outperform pristine, state-of-the-art cathode materials from tier 1 suppliers." Does this new approach with recycling lithium-ion batteries sound promising?

The question of how to make lithium-ion battery recycling profitable has long vexed companies, governments, and environmental advocates. "Economically viable electric vehicle lithium-ion battery recycling is increasingly needed," a 2021 paper in the journal iScience concluded. "However routes to profitability are still unclear." This latest study has the potential to change that paradigm entirely. "This work," the authors write, "proves that recycled materials could potentially be reused in new batteries and the profitable recycling process could be realized." Did you realize that solving this problem will help bring down the cost of new EVs?

Luckily, there are a number of startups, like Germany's Tozero and Canada's Li-Cycle, that are committed to making lithium-ion battery recycling mainstream. With any luck, they will be able to incorporate the lessons learned from this latest study. Would you buy new electronics or an EV if recycled batteries were as good or better than new batteries and through the economy of scale, their price tag was greatly reduced?