Sustainable regeneration of spent cathodes for lithium-ion and post-lithium-ion batteries

The accelerating adoption of electric vehicles supports the transition to a more sustainable transport sector. However, the retiring of many electric vehicles over the next decade poses a sustainability challenge, particularly due to the lack of recycling of end-of-life batteries. Here we show regeneration routes that could valorize spent cathodes for a second life in both lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and post-LIBs. Our regeneration starts with a leaching process involving acetic acid that could selectively dissolve high-value elements in cathodes including lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese. Depending on the added chelating agents, further co-precipitation reactions in the leachate form precursors of different cathode materials. The regenerated lithium layered oxide cathodes deliver a reversible area capacity of up to 2.73 mAh cm⁻² with excellent structural stability for LIBs, whereas the obtained Prussian blue analogues show 83.7% retention after 2,000 cycles for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). Life-cycle and techno-economic assessments suggest that the current regeneration can reduce manufacturing costs for LIBs and SIBs by US$21.65 kWh⁻¹ and US$41.67 kWh⁻¹, respectively, with lower impacts on human health, environment and natural resources. This work paves the way for the transition to more sustainable storage technologies.