Abstract
This article describes a process for the repair and re-use of an aluminium-containing pouch used as an outer casing for a Lithium-ion battery cell. As Lithium-ion batteries become more widespread, particularly with their increasing use in the automotive industry and in consumer electronics, recycling them is becoming an important challenge. Current recycling approaches for Li-ion batteries focus on reclamation of the high-value metals found in the electrodes. However, in order to minimise the environmental impact of the battery it would be optimal to be able to reclaim and re-use other components. Since many battery cells consist of an electrode stack held inside an outer pouch, we herein describe the structure of such a pouch and suggest methods for selectively stripping and repairing the inner layer, allowing the material to be re-used. We investigated the use of three different solvents (xylene, limonene, and 2,2,5,5-tetramethyloxolane) for the selective stripping of the polypropylene (PP) layer on the inner side of a pouch material. Each solvent was tested on both ‘pristine’ pouch material (as obtained from the manufacturer) and pouch material that had previously been part of a battery. For ‘used’ pouch material, the overall thickness of the film decreased from 150-160 μm to 70-80 μm in under 1 h for all three solvents (corresponding to the removal of the PP layer), whereas for the ‘pristine’ pouch higher temperatures and longer times were required; this result is suggestive of some polymer degradation during the life of the pouch. Following the removal of the PP layer, virgin PP was subsequently added to renew the multi-layer structure.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 4973-4981 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Materials Advances |
Volume | 3 |
Issue number | 12 |
Early online date | 4 May 2022 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 21 Jun 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We gratefully acknowledge Adrian Lopera-Valle for DSC measurements of the pouch. We acknowledge funding from UKRI project “Reclamation and Re-manufacture of lithium ion batteries,” reference number 104425, and Faraday Institution ReLIB FIRG005 and FIRG006.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 RSC
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Chemistry (miscellaneous)
- Materials Science(all)