Upcycling Waste Battery Materials

The global imperative for carbon neutrality and the accelerating demand for secondary batteries, particularly in the electric vehicle (EV) sector, have intensified for transformative recycling strategies. Our focus has been on a novel hydrogen plasma reduction method, capable of swiftly recovering valuable metals from spent battery cathodes within one minute. Demonstrating its versatility, alloys such as Invar, high entropy alloys, and TiAl were successfully designed in a streamlined process. Our research highlights a simple, rapid, and environmentally friendly pathway for directly upcycling battery waste into high-performance alloys.

Upcycling Steel Byproduct

Our lab introduced an innovative and direct method to upcycle steelmaking mill scale by fabricating ferrofluids via bottom-up (hydrometallurgical) and top-down (high-energy ball milling) methods. Comprehensive microstructural characterization, including advanced microscopy, elucidates the nanoscale transformations underlying our approach. Our findings present significant advancements in sustainable waste recycling and magnetic nanomaterials synthesis, aligning with Advanced Science mission of innovative and interdisciplinary research.