Recycling of Spent Lithium-Ion Battery: A Critical Review

Lithium-ion battery (LIB) applications in consumer electronics and electric vehicles are rapidly growing, resulting in boosting resources demand, including cobalt and lithium. So recycling of batteries will be a necessity, not only to decline the consumption of energy, but also to relieve the shortage of rare resources and eliminate the pollution of hazardous components, toward sustainable industries related to consumer electronics and electric vehicles. The authors review the current status of the recycling processes of spent LIBs, introduce the structure and components of the batteries, and summarize all available single contacts in batch mode operation, including pretreatment, secondary treatment, and deep recovery. Additionally, many problems and prospect of the current recycling processes will be presented and analyzed. It is hoped that this effort would stimulate further interest in spent LIBs recycling and in the appreciation of its benefits.