Recovery of lithium iron phosphate batteries through electrochemical oxidation in Na2CO3 solutions

The accumulation of spent LiFePO4 is forming a Li mine in urban areas. Those resources not only cause waste of metal species but also seriously pollute the environment. The pursuit of a clean recycling way with minimized chemicals and secondary wastes has long been researched to close the supply chain of strategic elements such as Li. This research presents a straightforward and effective electrochemical method for the recovery of the spent LiFePO4 by electrochemically oxidizing LiFePO4 into FePO4 while releasing Li+ into Na2CO3 solution and collecting Li2CO3 in one step without using acids. The conversion of LiFePO4 to FePO4 is realized by anodic oxidation, and the leaching efficiency of Li reaches more than 98%. Overall, the electrochemical-assisted method is a promising clean recycling method that even could use the surplus energy of spent batteries to drive the recovery process with reduced environmental footprints.

Automated summary

This research presents a straightforward and effective electrochemical method for the recovery of spent LiFePO4, which can convert LiFePO4 into FePO4 without using acids, release Li+ into Na2CO3 solution, and collect Li2CO3 in one step, with high leaching efficiency.