Green and efficient method for the realization of full-component recovery of LiFePO4 black powder

With regard to retired LiFePO4 batteries, resource treatment has become a matter of public concern. The currently used wet recycling process causes secondary environmental pollution and has the difficulty of full-component recovery. Therefore, a green and efficient recovery process for the realization of full-component recovery of LiFePO4 black powder is proposed in this work. In this closed-loop process with liquid flow circulation, no waste liquid and gas emission is generated, and the purity of recycled Li2CO3 can reach up to 99.4%. Moreover, battery-grade FePO4 can be obtained after simple treatment, solving the problem of lithium tailings and slag in the traditional wet recycling process. The performances of recycled Li2CO3 and FePO4 are similar to commercialization products according to electrochemical tests. More importantly, the resynthesized LiFePO4 cathode displays high-capacity retention of 97.5% after 200 cycles at 0.5 C, indicating the superiority of our strategy. Furthermore, the pouch cell with 5.2 A h presents outstanding performance, and high-capacity retentions of 96% and 95.2% can be observed after 500 cycles at 0.5 C and 1 C, respectively. The aforementioned results indicate the attractive prospects of this green and efficient lithium extraction and full-component recovery process.