title: Environmentally-friendly lithium recycling from a spent organic li-ion battery.
abstract: A simple and straightforward method using non-polluting solvents and a single thermal treatment step at moderate temperature was investigated as an environmentally-friendly process to recycle lithium from organic electrode materials for secondary lithium batteries. This method, highly dependent on the choice of electrolyte, gives up to 99% of sustained capacity for the recycled materials used in a second life-cycle battery when compared with the original. The best results were obtained using a dimethyl carbonate/lithium bis(trifluoromethane sulfonyl) imide electrolyte that does not decompose in presence of water. The process implies a thermal decomposition step at a moderate temperature of the extracted organic material into lithium carbonate, which is then used as a lithiation agent for the preparation of fresh electrode material without loss of lithium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry-Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Box 538, 751 21 Uppsala (Sweden). steven.renault@kemi.uu.se.
authors.forename: Stéven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Renault
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brandell
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Edström
mesh_terms: D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D055772:Green Chemistry Technology / Q000379:methods; D008094:Lithium / Q000737:chemistry*; D059027:Recycling / Q000379:methods*; D012997:Solvents
chemical_list: D012997:Solvents; D008094:Lithium
keywords: environmentally-friendly process; li-ion batteries; lithium recycling; organic electrodes; sustainability