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Updated: Sep 30, 2026

Identification and Quantification of Decomposition Mechanisms in Lithium-Ion Batteries; Input to Heat Flow Simulation for Modeling Thermal Runaway
Published on: March 7, 2022
Separation chemistry for battery recycling: from structural delamination to elemental extraction
Bin Han1, Runze Zhang1, Kun Zhang1
1Department of Macromolecular Science, Institute of Fiber Materials and Devices, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, and Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China. liaomeng@fudan.edu.cn.
Abstract:
The rapid growth of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles and portable electronics has made spent-battery recycling increasingly urgent. Battery recycling couples material separation with recovery and regeneration, with separation defining feedstock purity, component enrichment, chemical reactivity, and ultimately the efficiency and value of downstream recovery. This review summarizes separation chemistry in battery recycling, focusing on structural delamination and elemental extraction. Structural delamination is discussed by covering mechanical separation, thermal processing, solvent-mediated delamination and field-driven separation. Elemental extraction is then summarized in terms of chemical leaching, bioleaching, reductive transformation, solvent extraction, ion exchange, and electrochemical refining. Finally, remaining challenges and future directions are outlined to guide the development of selective, sustainable, and compatible separation strategies for high-value closed-loop battery recycling.
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