Sandia National Laboratories researchers have developed a microwave-based method to upcycle old lithium-ion cathodes
Instead of letting old lithium-ion batteries pile up as waste, Sandia National Laboratories researchers have developed a microwave-based process to recover and remake their cathodes, potentially turning spent batteries into a new domestic source of critical materials.
Lithium-ion batteries power everything from phones and electric vehicles to grid-scale energy storage and earbuds, but their cathodes — the part of batteries denoted by a plus sign — are expensive to make and rely on minerals sourced from a limited number of countries, including lithium and cobalt. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, is responsible for mining about 70% of the world’s cobalt.
Sandia’s new method does more than recycle those cathodes: It upcycles them, transforming spent battery material into new cathodes that better match current industry needs while using less time and being more affordable than conventional high-temperature approaches.
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