Deep eutectic solvents could solve li-ion recycling problem

As the consumption of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for the transportation and consumer electronic sectors continues to grow, so does the pile of battery waste, with no successful recycling model, as exists for the lead–acid battery.

The Rice researchers have exhibited a method to recycle LIBs using deep eutectic solvents to extract valuable metals from various chemistries, including lithium cobalt (III) oxide and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide.

A deep eutectic solvent is a mixture of two or more compounds that freezes at temperatures much lower than each of its precursors, enabling researchers to obtain a liquid from a simple combination of solids.

For the metal extraction from lithium cobalt (III) oxide, leaching efficiencies of ≥90% were obtained for both cobalt and lithium.

It was also found that other battery components, such as aluminium foil and polyvinylidene fluoride binder, can be recovered separately.

Deep eutectic solvents could provide a green alternative to conventional methods of LIB recycling and reclaiming strategically important metals, which remain crucial to meet the demand of the exponentially increasing LIB production.