Direct recycling of cathode scrap: retain or remove residual binder and conductive carbon additives?

Abstract Direct recycling of lithium-ion batteries offers a sustainable pathway for recovering valuable electrode materials. An unresolved issue remains regarding the role of functional additives, namely binder and conductive carbon. The central question is whether these additives must be replaced or if they can be retained and reused. To address this question, we use a high-voltage LiNi 0.5 Mn 1.5 O4 (LNMO) as a case study, comparing two delamination strategies applied to production-scrap electrodes: (i) thermal delamination, which eliminates all functional additives, and (ii) ice-stripping, which preserves them and enables direct reuse after simple re-dispersion. Comprehensive structural, physicochemical, and electrochemical analyses reveal that LNMO recovered via ice-stripping remains unaffected by the delamination and exhibits near-pristine storage performance, delivering <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mtext>⩾</mml:mtext> <mml:mn>95</mml:mn> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">%</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> of the practical capacity and maintaining over 97% of capacity retention (131 mAh·g −1 ) after 100 cycles, demonstrating that the removal of additives is not a prerequisite. By preserving functional components, ice-stripping streamlines the recycling process, reduces environmental impact, and lowers the cost of remanufacturing, offering a pathway towards increased circularity in battery production.