Diversified battery recycling: Advances in recovery techniques and value-added functional applications

Abstract

The recycling of spent batteries is essential for conserving rare elements and promoting environmental sustainability. The development of high-efficiency, cost-effective, and environmentally friend recycling methods for spent batteries remains a critical research priority. Herein, this review systematically analyzes the features of current recycling techniques and highlights the future technical directions for closed-loop battery recycling. Furthermore, broader applications of recycled batteries as high-value functional materials are explored and promoted beyond energy storage. Specifically, this review first examines the technical limitations of traditional metallurgical methods and then explores current developments and future directions in direct recycling techniques. In further, this review aims to advocate for exploring diverse high-value applications of recycled materials beyond closed-loop battery recycling, such as, the recovered transition metals and carbon-based materials show promising potential as catalysts, adsorbents, biomedical agents, and chemical reagents across various high value-added fields. Finally, this review analyzes challenges and provides a promising way on future recycling models and applications, aiming to achieve high-efficient, high-value, and environmentally friendly reuse of spent batteries for sustainable development.