New lithium batteries made of graphite recovered from old mobile phone batteries by university or can be used in electric vehicles

The University of Cordoba in Spain and the University of St. Louis in Argentina have worked together on a research project to make new lithium batteries from old mobile phones with low recovery and graphite from devices.

In the past few years, lithium-ion batteries are facing competition from sodium batteries and magnesium batteries. However, due to the high density and capacity of lithium-ion batteries, lithium-ion batteries have become an indispensable energy source. However, the reserves of lithium metals are insufficient and concentrated. Almost 85% of lithium metals are located in the lithium triangle at the junction of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. Moreover, as the adoption rate of electric vehicles continues to increase, the demand for lithium metal in the coming decades also seems to increase significantly. Each car needs about 7000 cell phone batteries, so reusing different components of cell phone batteries has become an extremely important topic.

A research project of the University of Cordoba in Spain and the University of San Luis in Argentina is able to make new lithium batteries from old mobile phones and devices with low recovery rate, because if such batteries are not handled properly, they will eventually lead to a lot of e-waste in the world every year.

The project found a way to recover graphite from such devices. This material is located in the negative pole of the battery, and its main function is to store and conduct lithium. Professor lvaro Caballero, who led the study, said the researchers were able to remove impurities from used graphite, reconstruct its structure and reactivate it for new use. Interestingly, this material accounts for a quarter of the total weight of lithium battery, so when it is recycled, it is equivalent to 25% of the whole energy storage system. Especially graphite comes from crude oil, so it is more meaningful.

Another important aspect of this research is that cobalt can no longer be used as the positive electrode of this new type of recyclable battery, because cobalt is widely used in the mobile device industry. "Cobalt is a toxic element and is more expensive than other elements such as manganese and nickel used in the study," said researcher Fernando Luna, one of the lead authors of the study. More importantly, as with coltan, cobalt is concentrated in mines in conflict areas. "

According to the conclusion of this study, in some cases, the recovered graphite is better than the commercial graphite. Some tests have also shown that, at its best, the capacity of the battery remains stable after 100 charging cycles (equivalent to one year of use).

Although the results of the study are promising and are tested on a complete cell of a real battery, the study is small in scale and is carried out in the laboratory. Therefore, there is a long way to go before this manual recycling process becomes a standardized process.

Researcher lvaro Caballero said: "at present, more than 90% of the lead battery components in traditional vehicles are recycled, so if we want to achieve sustainable development and popularize electric vehicles, large-scale recycling of lithium batteries will become inevitable."