Recycling of spent graphite and copper current collector for lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries

Recycling all components of waste lithium-ion batteries (WLIBs) can fulfill the economic benefits, compensate for the scarcity of materials, and effectively reduces environmental pollution. However, anode part recycling is not much attractive compared to the highly valuable metal resources containing cathode parts due to its low added value and intricate steps in the recycling process. Therefore, developing anode recycling techniques is crucial to contribute to the industrial large-scale recycling process in the future. Herein, an efficient recycling method is proposed to recycle the anode material consisting of Cu foil and graphite for battery applications. The recovered anode is reused for the preparation of Cu-BTC MOF-derived CuO (R-CuO) as well as graphite purification via the acid-lixiviation process in a single step. The purified graphite (PG) revealed its superior electrochemical properties by displaying 360.2 mA h g−1 after a stable cycle performance of 200 cycles for the Li-ion (LIB) application. Later, the electrochemical performance of the prepared R-CuO is studied in the lithium-ion (LIB) and sodium-ion battery (SIB) half-cell configurations. R-CuO exhibits maximum reversible discharge capacities of 515 and 289 mA h g−1 after reaching 200 cycles for LIB and SIB, respectively with remarkable cycling stability and rate performance. [Display omitted] •Spent lithium-ion batteries anode materials have been recycled and reused.•Graphite purified and regenerated in a single step acid treatment process.•Copper foil transformed to copper (II)-benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate successfully.•Purified graphite displays 360.2 mA h g−1 even after 200 cycles for Li-ion battery.•Cu-BTC MOF derived CuO displayed good performance for Li-ion and Na-ion battery.