Our new paper, Electrochemical recycling of lithium-ion batteries: Advancements and future directions, is now available online at the Wiley journal EcoMat. Our review provides a perspective of different recycling techniques currently used for lithium-ion batteries. We begin by reviewing the more established pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods, which have been widely adopted in industrial applications. These methods, while effective, often involve high energy consumption and the use of chemical reagents, raising concerns about their long-term sustainability.

Building on this foundation, we focus on emerging electrochemical approaches, which offer a more sustainable alternative by using electricity to recover valuable metals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel. This method reduces the need for harmful chemicals and promises lower energy demands, especially when powered by renewable energy sources. However, despite these advantages, electrochemical recycling is not without its challenges. Our paper critically examines key issues such as scalability and selectivity. We emphasize the need for further research to address these obstacles and unlock the full potential of electrochemical recycling to improve metal recovery efficiency while minimizing waste and environmental impact.

In the broader context of the energy transition, efficient battery recycling is becoming increasingly important. As demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage rises, ensuring the sustainable recovery of metals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel is crucial. While electrochemical methods are promising, significant technical challenges remain to be addressed before these processes can be widely adopted. We believe our work contributes to a deeper understanding of the current landscape and offers insights into future directions.

New research paper from our collaboration with Michael Naguib: “Nitrogen-Doped Graphene-Like Carbon Intercalated MXene Heterostructure Electrodes for Enhanced Sodium- and Lithium-Ion Storage” published in Advanced Science.

We’ve developed a novel N-doped graphene-like carbon intercalated Ti₃C₂T_x (NGC-Ti₃C₂T_x) heterostructure. But wait… why would one want to add something in-between the MX-layers, the wonderful interlayer space that should host lithium- and sodium-ion for battery application?

By adding a thin carbon layer, we do not block ion uptake but create additional intercalation sites above and beneath the carbon layer! This yields a reversible specific capacity of 305 mAh/g for sodium-ion batteries and 400 mAh/g for lithium-ion batteries.

Our findings address the critical challenge of low reversible capacity in many MXenes, making a contribution to the field of energy storage materials. By intercalating thin carbon layers into MXene, we provide a promising route to enable enhanced capacity for MXene battery electrodes, backed up both by experimental data and modeling data.

A heartfelt thanks to the wonderful international (co)authors KUN LIANG, Tao Wu, Sudhajit Misra, Chaochao Dun, Samantha Husmann, Kaitlyn Prenger, Jeffrey J. Urban, Raymond Unocic, De-en Jiang and Michael Naguib.

New paper published in Chemical Engineering Journal on “A sustainable approach: Repurposing harmful algal biomass as carbon-based catalysts for nitrogen fertilizer electrosynthesis from nitrate and CO₂“.

📜 Our research focuses on repurposing harmful algal blooms (HABs) biomass into carbon-based catalysts, specifically Cu1Mo1/NC, for the electrosynthesis of nitrogen fertilizers (urea and ammonia) from nitrate and CO₂. This method not only addresses the environmental issue of HABs but also offers a sustainable approach to fertilizer production. The Cu1Mo1/NC catalyst demonstrated a high yield rate of 772 μg/h/mg(cat) for urea and 1531 μg/h/mg(cat) for ammonia, with a Faradaic efficiency of 68.4%.

🌐 The production of nitrogen fertilizers, essential for global food security, is currently dominated by energy-intensive processes such as Haber-Bosch, which contribute significantly to global CO₂ emissions. Our approach explores how to mitigate these environmental impacts by using renewable resources and recycling waste. An approach like ours could potentially reduce CO2 emissions by millions of tons annually, equivalent to the emissions of hundreds of thousands of people.

🌱This study is a step towards sustainable agriculture, integrating renewable energy and waste recycling. Although the current system’s efficiency needs improvement to achieve positive profit and net CO₂ emission reduction, it paves the way for future advancements in green and low-carbon fertilizer synthesis.

👩‍🔬👨‍🔬 Thanks to all of our partners: He Wang, Shuaishuai Man (who visited our laboratory 2021-2022), Han Wang, and Qun Yan.

New review article “Functional gel-based electrochemical energy storage” published Chemistry of Materials. This paper reviews the research field of gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs), which combine the ionic conductivity of liquid electrolytes with the mechanical stability of solid materials. GPEs are versatile materials in various electrochemical applications, including sensors, actuators, and energy storage devices. These quasi-solid materials can withstand significant mechanical stress, making them attractive for flexible and wearable electronics. This collaborative work was done by Jean Gustavo De Andrade Ruthes, Stefanie Arnold, Kaitlyn Prenger, Ana C. Jaski, Vanessa Klobukoski, and Izabel C. Riegel-Vidotti.

New paper published in Energy & Environmental Materials. A few years ago, then-PhD-student Zhang Yuan explored with us the adoption of a fuel cell for continuous water desalination. Basically, a fuel cell can be “fooled” to desalinate an inflowing water stream by replacing the common proton exchange membrane with a flow channel, contained within a pair of an anion and a cation exchange membrane. Thereby, while consuming fuel (e.g., hydrogen and oxygen), electricity is generated and water desalted all at once. Now, we have moved one step further: making fuel cell desalination lithium-ion selective for direct lithium-ion extraction from seawater or mine water (other water media work too).

Our team, lead by Cansu Kök, and with Lei Wang, Jean Gustavo De Andrade Ruthes, Antje Quade (from the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP Greifswald) e.V.), and Matthew Suss (from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology; now at Form Energy), has developed the first-ever fuel cell system designed specifically for continuous lithium-ion extraction. This approach utilizes a lithium superionic conductor membrane alongside advanced electrodes to enhance efficiency and environmental sustainability.

A titania-coated electrode in our fuel cell achieves a 95% lithium-ion purity and produces 10.23 Wh of energy per gram of lithium. Thanks to atomic layer deposition, we’ve significantly improved the electrode’s uniformity, stability, and electrocatalytic activity, maintaining stability even after 2000 cycles.