Flash upcycling of spent LiCoO2 into oxygen-suppressed lithium-replenishing agent for high-performance batteries

Sep 29, 2026

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Battery recycling is essential for conserving resources and improving environmental sustainability, yet conventional metallurgical and direct-regeneration routes trade off energy use, emissions, and feedstock adaptability. A universal flash upcycling method converts spent LiCoO2 into Li6CoO4 within 10 seconds via flash Joule heating, enabling complete lithium and cobalt recovery across degradation states. The Li6CoO4 functions as a high-capacity sacrificial additive for non-destructive lithium replenishment, while a conformal sulfur coating suppresses oxygen release by redirecting it into sulfate formation. In graphite | LiFePO4 pouch cells, the stabilized product delivers 91.4% capacity retention over 1400 cycles, with life-cycle and techno-economic analyses showing reduced energy consumption, lower CO2 emissions, and improved returns.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Flash upcycling strategy for spent LiCoO2

Limits of conventional recycling and direct regeneration

Proposed approach: conversion to Li6CoO4 and sulfur stabilization

Article [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67496-9](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67496-9) Flash upcycling of spent LiCoO2 into oxygensuppressed lithium-replenishing agent for high-performance batteries Received: 8 August 2025 Accepted: 2 December 2025 | Published online: 05 January 2026 | | --- | | Check for updates | Ganxiong Liu1,2,6, Quan Nie1,6, Wang Wan1, Fangzhou Yang1, Zhiqi Yang1, Ge Qu1, Lingling Guo3, Jitao Chen4 , Xuezhe Wei2 , Yunhui Huang 5 & Chao Wang 1 Battery recycling is essential to mitigate resource depletion and improve environmental sustainability. However, conventional metallurgical and direct regeneration methods involve trade-offs among energy input, environmental impact, and feedstock adaptability. Here we report a universal upcycling method that converts spent LiCoO2 into Li6CoO4 within 10 seconds via ﬂash Joule heating, achieving complete lithium and cobalt recovery regardless of degradation state. The resulting Li6CoO4 serves as a high-capacity sacriﬁcial additive to offset active lithium loss. To overcome its inherent air sensitivity and oxygen release during delithiation, a conformal sulfur coating was applied to stabilize surface chemistry and redirect oxygen evolution into sulfate formation. This sulfur-mediated mechanism effectively suppresses gas generation and parasitic side reactions, enabling non-destructive lithium replenishment. When integrated into graphite | |LiFePO4 pouch cells, the stabilized Li6CoO4 achieves 91.4% capacity retention over 1400 cycles at a current density of 80mAg−1. Comparative life-cycle and techno-economic analyses reveal clear reductions in energy consumption and CO2 emissions, along with improved economic returns. This work provides a scalable route that bridges positive electrode waste recovery with high-performance lithium supply, advancing closed-loop battery systems for sustainable energy storage. LiCoO2 (LCO) is the primary positive electrode material used in rechargeable batteries for portable consumer electronics1. With the widespread use and frequent replacement of these devices, over 100,000 tons of spent LiCoO2 (SLCO) batteries are discarded annually worldwide, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable waste management solutions2,3. Current recycling strategies for lithium-ion batteries(LIBs)can be broadly categorized into metallurgy-based elemental extraction and direct regeneration4,5. The former includes pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and their combinations, in which the chemical bonds of electrode materials are broken under hightemperature or acidic/alkaline conditions to extract the target metal elements6. These methods offer high tolerance for feedstock heterogeneity but compromise economic and environmental sustainability, and are therefore typically regarded as “downcycling” strategies. Additionally, valuable lithium is often lost in the mixed slag or through evaporation at high temperatures, further limiting their overall efﬁciency7. 1School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China. 2School of Automotive Studies, Tongji University, Shanghai, China. 3Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China. 4College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China. 5State Key Laboratory of Material Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China. 6These authors contributed equally: Ganxiong Liu, Quan Nie. e-mail: chenj[itao@pku.edu.cn](itao@pku.edu.cn); [weixzh@tongji.edu.cn](weixzh@tongji.edu.cn); [huangyh@hust.edu.cn](huangyh@hust.edu.cn); [chaow@tongji.edu.cn](chaow@tongji.edu.cn) To address these drawbacks, direct regeneration has emerged asa more sustainable alternative, aiming to restore the functional properties of spent electr

FAQs

How fast does the flash upcycling convert spent LiCoO2 into the recovered material?

The method converts spent LiCoO2 into Li6CoO4 within 10 seconds via flash Joule heating.

What role does Li6CoO4 play in battery performance?

Li6CoO4 acts as a high-capacity sacrificial additive to offset active lithium loss and enable non-destructive lithium replenishment.

How does sulfur coating address oxygen sensitivity during delithiation?

A conformal sulfur coating stabilizes surface chemistry and redirects oxygen evolution into sulfate formation, suppressing gas generation and parasitic side reactions.

Sep 29, 2026

Upload by Mia