Battery recycling for environmental applications

Recent research across the United States, Australia, Mexico and Argentina demonstrates a growing focus on repurposing spent lithium‑ion batteries and related waste for sustainability. In the United States, scientists at Sandia National Laboratories introduced a microwave‑based process, BatterUP, that exfoliates spent cathode material into nanosheets, enabling low‑energy upcycling of lithium‑ion batteries. Parallel work in Australia identified 316L stainless steel electrodes that can electrochemically recover silver from end‑of‑life photovoltaic modules with high efficiency.

In Latin America, Mexican researchers developed water‑cleaning filters that incorporate recovered graphite from discarded electric‑vehicle batteries, achieving up to 95 % removal of pharmaceuticals and other contaminants, with some designs powered by solar energy. Argentine engineers highlighted a recirculating aquaculture system that reuses more than 95 % of water in fish and shrimp production, illustrating complementary circular‑economy approaches to water management.

Together, these projects show a coordinated push to turn battery waste into valuable resources for energy storage, materials recovery and water treatment, expanding the scope of battery recycling from laboratory demonstrations to broader environmental applications.