Recently, the School of Metallurgy of NEU, in collaboration with Wuhan University, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Northwestern University in the United States, achieved new progress in lithium-ion battery recycling and upcycling. The related research outcome, “Co-upcycling spent lithium-ion batteries and plastics into microwave absorbing materials with Ni-Co catalyst control,” was published in Nature Communications. NEU is the first completing unit. Qiu Baolong, a 2021 doctoral student of NEU, and Hou Yuanzhao (Postdoctoral Researcher at Northwest Institute for Nonferrous Metal Research – Xi'an Jiaotong University) are the co-first authors of the paper. Professor Yin Huayi, Associate Professor Fu Daxue, and Dr. Liu Mengjie, Postdoctoral Researcher at Northwestern University in the United States, are the corresponding authors.
Figure A. Global plastic usage and projections Figure B. Global demand for lithium-ion batteries and projections Figure C. Synergistic pyrolysis process of retired lithium-ion batteries and binary plastics and their high-value upcycling into microwave absorbing materials
Addressing the challenges in the resource utilization of spent ternary lithium-ion batteries (NCM) and plastic waste, as well as the pain points of carbon deposition poisoning and uncontrolled particle growth in metal catalysts, this study proposes a synergistic high-value utilization strategy for lithium batteries and plastics regulated by the introduction of trace polyethylene terephthalate (PET), converting NCM and PET binary plastics into NiCoMnOx/CNTs composite microwave absorbing materials. After heat treatment at 800 ℃, the material achieved an effective absorption bandwidth (EAB, RL < -10 dB) of 7.01 GHz at a thickness of 2.41 mm, with a carbon conversion rate of 33% and a Li+ leaching efficiency of 99.9%. Life cycle analysis confirms that this strategy provides significant environmental benefits and economic value, offering a new solution for the sustainable high-value utilization of retired lithium batteries and plastic waste.
