Impact of Discharging Methods on Electrode Integrity in Recycling of Lithium‐Ion Batteries

ABSTRACT The rapid increase in electric vehicle (EV) adoption has significantly boosted the demand for lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs), creating an urgent need for sustainable recycling strategies. Discharging end‐of‐life LIBs is a critical preprocessing step before recycling. Electrical discharge via cables is the current industrial state of the art for large battery packs, whereas electrochemical discharge (discharging batteries in solutions) offers a reliable alternative for smaller and mixed waste streams. This study compares electrical and electrochemical discharge methods and examines their effects on the morphology and composition of electrode materials from spent LIBs. Additionally, it evaluates the potential of electrochemical discharge to enable a closed‐loop direct recycling process by recovering high‐quality active materials from spent LIBs. Characterization results reveal that the lithium content is higher on negative electrode sheets after electrical discharge than after electrochemical discharge. Unreacted lithium on Ni‐rich layered oxides can form residual lithium compounds, such as lithium carbonate (Li 2 CO 3 ) and lithium hydroxide (LiOH), which can trigger undesirable side reactions. PXRD analysis indicates that positive electrode materials subjected to electrochemical discharge retain their layered structure with minimal cation mixing, unlike those subjected to electrical discharge. Overall, the findings demonstrate that electrochemical discharge is more effective in preserving the chemical composition and structural integrity of active materials than conventional electrical discharge methods.