A chemical bath may restore your old EV battery to almost its original capacity.

      Researchers at Cornell University have created a recycling method that can restore used lithium-ion batteries to 95% of their initial capacity while reducing recycling expenses by over 50%.

      A bath rather than a shredder

      Existing battery recycling methods tend to be destructive, involving processes such as smelting spent cells at high temperatures or crushing them into powder that is then treated with harsh acids to recover usable materials. After extraction, the reclaimed materials need to be completely rebuilt before they can be used in new batteries.

      According to TechXplore, Cornell’s approach bypasses these steps. The direct electrode-to-electrode regeneration (DEER) method entails removing the electrodes from a depleted battery and immersing them in an electrochemical solution that dissolves the insulating layer causing capacity decline. The cleaned electrodes can then be integrated directly into a new battery cell without any prior breakdown.

      Implications beyond the laboratory

      The United States is heavily dependent on imported nickel and cobalt for lithium-ion battery production, and the local recycling infrastructure is underdeveloped. A method that accelerates the recycling process and increases material circulation helps mitigate costs and supply chain issues.

      The Cornell team also discovered that DEER reduces harmful air pollutants and water consumption when compared with traditional recycling techniques. The researchers are presently focusing on batteries that retain 70 to 80% of their original capacity, which is a common state for electric vehicle battery packs at the end of their lifecycle. Future steps involve testing the process on batteries at an industrial scale and addressing other types of degradation, including lithium loss.

      If successfully scaled, this technique could lead to lower battery prices, less pressure on mining resources, and fewer spent batteries being discarded in landfills.