Upcycling of photovoltaic waste graphite into high performance graphite anode

High-value recycling of photovoltaic waste graphite (WG) is an effective path to achieve "carbon neutrality". However, the current most adopted methods are landfilling, incineration and leaching, which can lead to undesirable environmental contamination and waste of resources. Here, an energy-efficient and high-value flash recycling strategy is developed in which photovoltaic WG is converted to high-capacity and high-rate graphite anode for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in milliseconds. Ultra-high temperatures (>3000 K) were provided by flash joule heat to remove harmful impurities in the PV waste graphite, while improving the graphitization degree of WG and the (002) layer spacing of WG, making the upcycled graphite more suitable for lithium-ion (Li⁺) intercalation and deintercalation. The upcycled graphite as a lithium-ion battery anode exhibits high reversible capacity (∼413 mAh g^-1) and robust cycling stability (>90.1 % retention at 2.0C rate for 1000cycles), which is superior to the current state-of-the-art commercial graphite anode. Overall, this work provides a feasible approach for the sustainable management of photovoltaic waste graphite, contributing to cleaner production and circular economy in the photovoltaic industry.