Issue 5, 2024

Spent graphite from lithium-ion batteries: re-use and the impact of ball milling for re-use

Abstract

The growing demand for lithium-ion batteries over the last decade, coupled with the limited and geographically confined supply of high-quality battery-grade graphite, underscores the importance of recycling graphite from spent batteries. Ideally, recycled graphite, already optimised for battery applications, can find application in new batteries, thereby reducing environmental impact and potentially delivering excellent performance. This study focuses on assessing the electrochemical performance of as-received and ball-milled recycled graphite obtained from two distinct battery waste streams. After 100 cycles at a current of 20 mA g−1, capacities reach predominantly 313 mA h g−1 for graphite recycled from LiCoO2‖ graphite batteries and 242 mA h g−1 for those recycled from LiNixMnyCozO2 (x + y + z = 1)‖ graphite batteries. Nonetheless, there remains a noticeable disparity in electrochemical properties between recycled graphite and commercial battery-grade graphite. One additional processing step is undertaken: ball milling for different durations, to modify particle size and morphology. As a result, after 3-hour ball milling, the average capacities increased by 10.5% and 20.2% for recycled graphite derived from LiCoO2‖ graphite and LiNixMnyCozO2 (x + y + z = 1)‖ graphite batteries, respectively. This work clearly demonstrates that recycled graphite can be employed in second-life or batteries made from recycled materials and mechanochemical methods can be used to improve performance.

Graphical abstract: Spent graphite from lithium-ion batteries: re-use and the impact of ball milling for re-use

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 feb. 2024
Accepted
14 apr. 2024
First published
15 apr. 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Sustain., 2024,2, 1418-1430

Spent graphite from lithium-ion batteries: re-use and the impact of ball milling for re-use

J. Peng, S. Maslek and N. Sharma, RSC Sustain., 2024, 2, 1418 DOI: 10.1039/D4SU00094C

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