{"id":703431,"date":"2026-01-18T03:33:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T03:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/703431\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T03:33:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T03:33:20","slug":"co2-h2o-cleaner-recycling-of-dead-lithium-batteries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/703431\/","title":{"rendered":"CO2 + H2O = cleaner recycling of dead lithium batteries?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chinese scientists have found a way to <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/economy\/global-economy\/article\/3309074\/chinas-dying-ev-batteries-solar-cells-are-powering-circular-economy-new-energy-era?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">recycle lithium batteries<\/a> using only carbon dioxide and water \u2013 eliminating the need for harsh, polluting chemicals to extract the lithium and upcycle cathode materials.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing Institute of Technology said they used a \u201cthree-in-one\u201d strategy to improve lithium recovery, upgrade transition metals like cobalt and nickel, and sequester carbon to eliminate waste by-products.<\/p>\n<p>Their method achieved a <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/economy\/china-economy\/article\/3220194\/china-worlds-biggest-producer-electric-vehicles-and-batteries-recycling-key-lithium-self-sufficiency?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">lithium<\/a> leaching efficiency exceeding 95 per cent \u2013 comparable to traditional recycling methods that require corrosive chemicals and produce hazardous waste water.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThis approach not only provides an efficient pathway for lithium recovery but also upcycles spent cathode materials into valuable catalysts, supporting sustainable energy conversion technologies,\u201d the team said in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications on January 10.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">A cathode is the positive electrode of a battery and can be made using metals like lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cConducted under ambient conditions without additional grinding aids or leaching agents, this method minimises environmental impact,\u201d according to the scientists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chinese scientists have found a way to recycle lithium batteries using only carbon dioxide and water \u2013 eliminating&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3843],"tags":[211409,3901,17854,28904,1305,728,211406,211410,6503,87768,69347,83287,191180,211407,70,211408,211405,16,15],"class_list":["post-703431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-beijing-institute-of-technology","tag-carbon-dioxide","tag-chinese-academy-of-sciences","tag-cobalt","tag-electric-vehicles","tag-environment","tag-global-shortages","tag-hazardous-waste-water","tag-lithium","tag-lithium-ion-batteries","tag-manganese","tag-nature-communications","tag-nickel","tag-pyrometallurgy","tag-science","tag-strategic-metal-resources","tag-transition-metals","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115914001752214070","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}