Recycling of Cathode Material from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries for Energy Application

Abstract

Lithium-ion batteries have been widely utilized in portable electronic devices such as laptops, mobile phones, and other handheld electronic devices since their commercialization in the early 1990s. Extensive use of lithium-ion batteries has been seen in the past three decades. Nowadays, lithium-ion batteries are considered to be the most promising energy storage and green power source for electric vehicles. Like portable electronic devices, it is predicted that lithium-ion batteries are also going to be exploited in the electric vehicle sectors in the coming years. As a result, a large number of spent lithium-ion batteries will be generated. Spent batteries are not only concerned with environmental issues but, it is also concerned with resource management and sustainability. The cathode material in lithium-ion batteries is made of mixed metal oxide. The cathode part in spent lithium-ion batteries contains valuable metals such as Li, Ni, Mn, and Co. However, most of the spent lithium-ion batteries may end up in landfills. Hence, in the view of worldwide electric car revolution and a large number of spent lithium-ion batteries generation, recycling cathode material from spent lithium-ion batteries for energy applications is highly desirable to overcome the environmental issues and resource management for sustainable utilization of energy storage materials. We studied the recycling of cathode material from spent lithium-ion batteries and its characterization for energy storage applications.