Recycling of Lithium-Ion Battery

Recycling lithium-ion batteries is crucial for promoting environmental sustainability and conserving valuable resources, particularly as the global demand for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and renewable energy storage continues to rise. Among the various components of these batteries, anode-grade graphite plays a vital yet often underappreciated role. It accounts for nearly 20–30% of a lithium-ion cell's total weight and is derived through energy- and resource-intensive processes. Both natural and synthetic graphite require significant extraction and processing efforts, contributing to environmental degradation and supply chain strain. Importantly, graphite has now been officially recognized as a critical mineral by several countries, including the United States, due to its strategic importance and limited domestic availability. Therefore, developing efficient methods for recovering and reusing graphite from spent batteries is essential for reducing dependence on virgin raw materials, minimizing environmental impacts, and ensuring long-term supply security.

In this work, spent lithium-ion batteries were manually discharged and disassembled to separate the anode from the cathode and the semi-permeable separator. Various mineral acids, organic acids, and solvents were explored for their effectiveness in detaching and purifying graphite from the anode material. The recovered graphite was then subjected to a series of characterization techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) under both nitrogen and air, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Finally, the performance of the reclaimed graphite was evaluated by fabricating lithium-ion coin cells, demonstrating its potential for reuse in energy storage applications and contributing to a circular battery economy.