Burgeoning Prospects of Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries in Multifarious Applications

Where sustainability is concerned, recycling of reutilizable wastes will always occupy the apex of the green chemistry research. Handling electronic wastes in a green manner without affecting the ecology and human health is one of the main challenges for material chemists and gains top priority among other fields of research. At present, handling and recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is a key priority. Due to these environmental concerns, massive interest has been triggered in various crystal structures of metal oxides, and different kinds of carbon materials that provide the opportunities to replace the commercial LIBs for energy storage and conversion applications in a cost-effective manner. Reports are available on the recycling of spent LIBs, but these reports mainly focus on the metal recovery process rather than finding suitable applications for the recovered material. This present work exclusively summarizes the global demand for LIB raw materials, tactics in the resynthesis process along with the wide range of growing applications of spent LIB materials. Finally, the future prospects of applications that utilize spent LIB materials are addressed.