Recycling and Resynthesis of Cathode Materials from Lithium-Ion Batteries for EVs

The cost of electric vehicles (EVs) is significantly influenced by lithium-ion batteries, which typically account for about 40% of the total price, primarily due to the critical minerals content. Notably, minerals for cathode production are prone to scarcity and market price fluctuations. Moreover, the extraction of these minerals through mining activities poses substantial environmental challenges, including carbon emissions and resource depletion. In response to these concerns, recycling emerges as strategic to ensure the sustainability of electrification and secure the mineral supply chain. This paper presents findings from a study on recycling EV batteries using hydrometallurgical processes, encompassing the resynthesis of cathode materials utilizing recycled resources. The hydrometallurgical method exhibited an extraction efficiency surpassing 90%, with no direct CO₂ emissions. Validation of the resynthesis phase involved the fabrication of cells with resynthesized cathodes, demonstrating performance comparable to batteries sourced from new minerals and resilience to typical stressors encountered in EV applications. This study reinforces that recycled materials can play a role to mitigate the need for extra mining activities for batteries with no performance concern.