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Extensive use of LiFePO4 batteries will afford a lot of spent LiFePO4 batteries, which cannot be recycled properly by using traditional processes at present. If these spent LiFePO4 batteries are thrown away without recycling properly, it is not only a severe waste of valuable resources, but also leads to serious environmental pollution. In this paper, a completely green recycling process and a small scale model line are developed to recycle cathode powders from spent LiFePO4 batteries for the first time. Parts of LiFePO4 host particles in spent LiFePO4 batteries decompose to FePO4, Fe2O3, P2O5 and Li3PO4 after numerous charge–discharge cycles, resulting in poor electrochemical performance of freshly recycled cathode powders for Li-ion batteries. To repair decomposed LiFePO4 host particles, recycled cathode powders are heat-treated at different temperatures. After heat-treatment at high temperatures, especially at 650 °C, cathode powders are effectively recycled and can be reused for Li-ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A green recycling process was designed and used to recycle spent LiCoO2 batteries, and the recycled LiCoO2 was regenerated after the solid state synthesis with Li2CO3. XRD results showed that the layered structure of LiCoO2 was repaired after regeneration. The physical and chemical properties (XRD, morphology, tap density, average particle size, specific surface areas and pH value) and electrochemical properties (discharge capacity, attenuation rate of capacity, plateau retention at 3.6 V and attenuation rate of plateau) of LiCoO2 after regeneration were tested in detail and compared with commercial LiCoO2. The test data show that the regenerated LiCoO2 at 900 °C can meet the commercial requirements for reuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]