Fully upcycling spent ternary cathodes by simultaneously extracting lithium and constructing high performance oxygen evolution catalysts

Abstract

Recycling spent ternary batteries provides a dual benefit in both addressing environmental concerns and favoring resource utilization. However, conventional recycling strategies suffer from lengthy separation procedures and low recovery efficiency of valuable metals. This work proposed a flash joule heating-based direct conversion strategy to both selectively extract lithium and transform other metals into oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst from the leaching solution of ternary cathodes. In this way, 95.89 % lithium was collected by water-leaching. Meanwhile, a self-supported catalyst was built-up by the remaining solid and covered with multimetallic hydroxide film through surface reconstruction. It exhibited an excellent OER catalytic activity with a low overpotential of 257 mV (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)) at 10 mA/cm². DFT calculations revealed that Co/Mn in the multimetallic hydroxide enhanced M-O charge transfer. Economic and environmental analysis confirmed its superior sustainability compared with conventional methods. This work established a sustainable and efficient pathway for fully upcycling ternary cathodes.