New way to recycle lithium ion batteries
Time:Tue, 20 Mar 2018 04:50:24 +0800
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The promise of a global electric-vehicle transformation has a looming problem. The cathodes in the lithium-ion batteries typically used in electric vehicles are made of metal oxides that contain cobalt, a metal found in finite supplies and concentrated in one of the globe's more precarious countries.
But an assistant professor at UC San Diego said that he has developed a way to recycle used cathodes from spent lithium-ion batteries and restore to perform as well as they did when new.
Mr Zheng Chen said, a 31 year old who works as a nanoengineer at the Sustainable Power and Energy Center at UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering that "Yes, it can work effectively."
The method also works on lithium cobalt oxide, which is widely used in electronic devices such as smartphones and laptops.
Mr Chen said that "In my house I have about six cellphones." Mr Chen said that "I have probably about five laptops. They all have lithium batteries. I thought, there is no clear system to recycle and retrieve them. From a battery researcher [standpoint] I know this is something we have to face, we have to solve."
The process takes degraded particles from the cathodes found in a used lithium-ion battery. The particles are then pressurized in a hot alkaline solution that contains lithium salt. Later, the particles go through a short heat-treating process called annealing, in which temperatures reach more than 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit.
After cooling, Mr Chen's team takes the regenerated particles and makes new cathodes. They then test the cathodes in batteries made in the lab.
The results, Chen said, have been impressive.
The new cathodes have been able to maintain the same charging time, storage capacity and battery lifetime as the originals did.
Mr Chen said that "Originally I thought we couldn't get all this performance back, that we would lose 10% or 20%." Mr Chen added that "But it turns out we're getting exactly the same performance."
Details of the recycling method were recently published in the research journal Green Chemistry, submitted by Chen and two colleagues.
