Recycling lithium batteries – well most single battery cells actually – is difficult because of the way factories put the tiny parts together. You literally have burn the cells to decompose them into their constituent materials according to an article in Forbes. But scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have found a better way to go about this. They have invented a new lithium battery glue that dissolves in water.
New Glue for Next-Gen Lithium Batteries
The new polymer binding the Berkeley scientists discovered, could reduce material recycling costs quite considerably. And reduce the battery industry’s dependence on costly virgin nickel, cobalt and lithium metals too.
Just imagine breaking down used lithium battery cells by soaking them in water! Instead of releasing toxic chemical fumes in controlled fires to melt the materials apart.
This new knowledge comes from a project to develop conductive polymer binders at a Berkeley associate company. The original idea was to develop adhesive with both mechanical integrity, and electric conductivity to eliminate a step in the process.
A New Generation of Aqueous Functional Binders
The press release is quite a mouthful, but we’ll do our best. Berkeley’s Gao Liu Research Lab describes the concept as follows:
- A polymer adhesive binder with potential to become an important lithium battery component.
- Comprising electrode particles, conductive additive particles and a binder in one structure.
- Creating a mechanically sound, stable micro-structure of electrode, ion and electron pathways.
Forbes Magazine suggests huge potential for this new invention. The new polymer lithium battery glue we just described dissolves in water. This decomposing procedure would release the electrode and additive particles safely and efficiently. The battery metals could then be filtered out of the solution, and air dried for reuse.
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