Rice University researchers develop innovative battery recycling method | Rice University News | News and Media

A research team led by James Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Chemistry and professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University, is tackling the environmental challenge of efficiently recycling lithium-ion batteries as their use grows.

A research team at Rice University led by James Tourne is tackling the environmental challenge of efficiently recycling lithium-ion batteries as their use grows. Photo by Jeff Fitlaw/Rice University.

The research team, detailed in the July 24 edition of Nature Communications, has developed a new method to extract purified active materials from battery waste. Their findings could facilitate the effective separation and recycling of valuable battery materials at minimal cost, contributing to the production of greener electric vehicles (EVs).

Toole said the rapid increase in battery use, especially in electric vehicles, has made it urgent to develop sustainable recycling methods.

Traditional recycling techniques typically involve breaking down battery materials into their elemental forms through energy-intensive thermal or chemical processes that are costly and have a significant environmental impact.

The team proposed that the magnetic properties could make it easier to separate and purify spent battery materials.

Their innovation employs a method called solventless flash joule heating (FJH), a technique invented by Toole that uses an electric current to pass through materials with moderate resistance, causing them to heat up rapidly and transform into other substances.

Using FJH, the researchers heated the battery waste to 2,500 Kelvin within seconds, creating a unique feature with a magnetic shell and stable core structure, allowing for efficient purification through magnetic separation.

3D rendering of a lithium-ion battery

In this process, cobalt-based battery cathodes, commonly used in EVs and associated with high economic, environmental and social costs, unexpectedly became magnetic with an outer spinel cobalt oxide layer that could be easily separated.

The researchers' approach achieved a high battery metal recovery rate of 98 percent while preserving the value of the battery structure.

“What's particularly remarkable is that after separation, the metal impurities were significantly reduced, yet the structure and functionality of the material was maintained. The bulk structure of the battery material remains stable and ready to be reconstituted into a new cathode,” Toole said.

Rice graduate students Weiying Chen and Jinghan Chen, and postdoctoral researcher and Rice Academy Junior Fellow Yi Chen, are co-lead authors of the study.

Co-authors include Ksenia Bets, research director of materials science and nanoengineering, Rodrigo Salvatierra, a former postdoctoral researcher and now an academic visiting associate in the Tour lab, postdoctoral researcher Bing Deng, applied physics graduate students Chang Ge, Duy Luong and Emily McHugh, Rice alumni John Li and Zicheng Wang, chemistry research scientist Carter Kittrell, materials science and nanoengineering research scientist Guanhui Gao, Yimo Han, assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering, and Boris Yakobson, the Karl F. Hasselmann Professor of Engineering and professor of materials science and nanoengineering.

This research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a Rice Academy Fellowship.

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