Separation chemistry for battery recycling: from structural delamination to elemental extraction

The rapid growth of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles and portable electronics has made spent-battery recycling increasingly urgent. Battery recycling couples material separation with recovery and regeneration, with separation defining feedstock purity, component enrichment, chemical reactivity, and ultimately the efficiency and value of downstream recovery. This review summarizes separation chemistry in battery recycling, focusing on structural delamination and elemental extraction. Structural delamination is discussed by covering mechanical separation, thermal processing, solvent-mediated delamination and field-driven separation. Elemental extraction is then summarized in terms of chemical leaching, bioleaching, reductive transformation, solvent extraction, ion exchange, and electrochemical refining. Finally, remaining challenges and future directions are outlined to guide the development of selective, sustainable, and compatible separation strategies for high-value closed-loop battery recycling.