Recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries has recently become a critical issue based on environmental concerns and a desire to reutilize resources. Among the existing recycling strategies, direct regeneration is largely encouraged from an economic and environmental perspective. However, current procedures used to separate the active cathode materials from the aluminum foil have some limitations for direct regeneration because they either destroy the structure of the cathode or use too many toxic and expensive reagents. Hence, we conducted comprehensive research on the microstructural evolution of the LiNi_1−x−yCo_xMn_yO₂ degraded electrode and then proposed a targeted method to recycle the spent cathode materials based on the increased residual lithium compounds. This separation process involves no other reagents but water, and toxic organic solvents, complicated processes, and waste treatments are unnecessary compared with the existing pretreatment strategies. Moreover, the separated cathodes are suitable for direct regeneration. Satisfactory capacity recovery of the cathode was achieved via simple sintering. Such a recycling process enables a sustainable closed-loop for the spent cathodes and provides new inspiration for the design of LIB recycling.

中文翻译：

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残余锂化合物增加的引导式设计，可以实现废锂离子阴极的绿色回收

基于对环境的关注和对资源的再利用的渴望，废锂离子电池的回收近来已成为一个关键问题。在现有的回收策略中，从经济和环境的角度来看，直接再生被大力提倡。然而，当前用于将活性阴极材料与铝箔分离的方法对于直接再生具有一些限制，因为它们要么破坏阴极的结构，要么使用太多有毒且昂贵的试剂。因此，我们对LiNi _{1− x − y} Co _x Mn _y O ₂的微观结构演变进行了全面的研究。降解的电极，然后基于增加的残留锂化合物，提出了一种有针对性的方法来回收废阴极材料。与现有的预处理策略相比，该分离过程不涉及其他试剂，而需要水和有毒有机溶剂，复杂的过程以及废物处理。此外，分离的阴极适合于直接再生。通过简单的烧结可以实现令人满意的阴极容量恢复。这种回收过程可为废阴极实现可持续的闭环，并为LIB回收的设计提供新的启示。