Research

R²BATT aims to develop processes and technologies for the recycling of electrochemically active materials making up Li-ion cells through:

• the development of protocols for the extraction and separation of critical elements and compounds, based on ionic liquids or deep eutectic solvents
• the development of protocols for the extraction of polymeric components, solvents, and lithium salts with processes at ambient pressure or in supercritical conditions
• the development of measurement protocols for product quantification
• the development of sustainable chemical treatments for the treatment of black mass
  

Therefore, one of the focuses is Cathode Recycling, which can be obtained by following two paths:

• recycling 1° route = Solvo-Metallurgy
• recycling 2° route = Direct Recycling
  

Cathode Recycling by Solvo-Metallurgy:

a) Extraction step via soft-metallurgy (very high extraction rate and soft metallurgical conditions such as low T, shorter t)
b) Synthesis of precursors
c) Synthesis of high-purity CAMs

Another primary target of the R²BATT line of research is the methods validation in the reference use-cases:

• Battery pack disassembling & component sorting
• Separator recovery
• Cathode recovery:
  • PVDF
    • Precipitation as PVDF+C
    • Purification
  • Active Material
    • Soft-solvometallurgy via DES (ChCl/LA 1:2) – 1^st pathway
    • Cathode Healing – 2^nd pathway
• Electrolyte recovery
• Anode recovery

Since the materials characterization is fundamental both before and after the recovery steps of every component, R²BATT can provide and manage different techniques.

Cathodes components characterization (example):

• XRPD for the active material
• TGA to identify the composition
• ICP-OES to quantify the Li-content
• SEM for the morphology

Separators components characterization (example):

• DSC & FTIR to characherize the substrate
• SEM for the morphology

And, last but not least, it is fundamental to measure and evaluate the functional performances of fully recycled components