Unexpected Self-Driven Enhanced Leaching of Valuable Metals from Spent Lithium-Ion Battery Cathodes

The rapid development of electric vehicles and the energy storage industry in recent decades produces a large number of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Traditional hydrometallurgical recycling of spent LIBs cathodes requires complex pretreatment processes to separate cathode active materials from the current collector, binder, and conductive agent to achieve faster leaching kinetics. However, unexpected enhanced leaching of spent LIBs is observed at the initial stage with the cathode sheet rather than the cathode powder. The self-driven enhanced leaching mechanism is proposed and verified with delicately designed electrochemical experiments. Based on the self-driven enhanced leaching mechanism, a galvanic cell system is built to leach valuable metals from spent LIBs cathodes and anodes efficiently. This research sheds light on the innovative recycling of spent LIBs without chemical reducing agents and enables the recycling of both spent LIBs cathodes and anodes simultaneously without complex pre-treatment processes.