1. School of Metallurgy and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, State Joint Engineering Research Center for Lithium-ion Battery and Material Preparation Technology, Kunming 650093, Yunnan, China.
2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, Yunnan, China
With the increasing large-scale application and production as well as the sales of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in electric vehicles, 3C electronics and energy storage devices, the metal waste and environmental pollution caused by their retirement are also becoming increasingly prominent. It is necessary to vigorously develop a green, environmentally friendly, efficient and low-cost cathode material recycling process for waste lithium-ion batteries to realize the cycle utilization of non-ferrous metal resources. This paper reviews the latest progress in the material recycling process of cathode materials for the used lithium-ion batteries. The existing recovery processes are summarized.Moreover, the research status of recovery processes such as the pretreatment, pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, biological leaching and direct recovery strategy are detailed illustrated. The problems and the advantages of these technology are compared and analyzed. Furthermore, the recovery efficiency, safety and economic value are comprehensively discussed. Finally, the prospect and development trend of the recycling and reuse of cathode materials of used lithium-ion batteries are outlooked, aiming at the direct, high-value and large-scale research on the recycling and reuse of used lithium batteries to provide lessons and references.