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https://reneweconomy.com.au/electrochemical-bath-could-bring-spent-lithium-ion-batteries-back-to-life-cut-cost-of-recycling-in-half/>
"Researchers from Cornell University in New York believe they have found a way
to recover almost the full life of lithium-ion batteries by using an
electrochemical solution to regenerate a battery’s electrodes.
The potentially game-chaging process could theoretically cut the cost of
battery stewardship by 56 per cent compared to current recycling methods and
would also be more environmentally friendly, reducing harmful air pollutants
and water use.
As batteries rapidly become an integral part of society, whether in mobile
phones or electric vehicles or home and utility-scale energy storage, the race
for materials to meet demand has caused prices to skyrocket as supply
diminishes.
Various battery recycling methods have been proposed and demonstrated – and are
even beginning to be scaled up to full commercialisation – but the battery
industry predominantly relies on what Cornell researchers describe as a linear
“take-make-dispose approach” that invariably sees batteries end up in
landfills.
Battery recycling methods are evolving to deconstruct spent batteries and reuse
their base materials, but this requires significant investment in the
infrastructure and processes needed to shred batteries down and separate the
resulting “black mass” to their base components, before refabrication.
Cornell researchers, however, have developed what they believe is a more
efficient and cost-effective way to recover almost the full life of lithium-ion
batteries after they are spent.
In findings published in the journal
Energy and Environmental Science last
month, the researchers introduced a new method that uses an electrochemical
solution to regenerate their electrodes.
The so-called direct electrode-to-electrode regeneration (DEER) allows these
batteries to regain up to 95 per cent of their original power and last longer
when reused."
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*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
