Radical Anion‐Driven Electron‐Ion Coupled Repair Chemistry for Direct Regeneration of Degraded LiFePO <sub>4</sub> Cathodes

ABSTRACT Direct regeneration of spent LiFePO 4 (LFP) cathodes is a sustainable alternative to conventional recycling methods. However, poor remediation efficiency and complex processes limit its application. Here, we develop a room‐temperature liquid‐phase strategy based on a deep green lithium naphthalenide (Li‐Naph) solution. This strategy utilizes radical anion‐driven electron‐ion coupling remediation chemistry to integrate electron donors, lithium transport, and surface reconstruction within a single solution‐phase platform. The strongly reducing naphthalene radical anion enables spontaneous electron transfer at ambient conditions, efficiently converting Fe 3+ back to Fe 2+ , while promoting surface lithium enrichment through coupled electron–ion interactions. Subsequent annealing allows the enriched lithium to diffuse into lithium vacancies, while the organic residues undergo in situ carbonization into a conformal conductive shell, achieving synergistic bulk repair and surface reconstruction. This chemistry fully restores the olivine framework, suppresses Fe–Li anti‐site defects, and markedly enhances Li + transport kinetics. The regenerated cathode delivers a high initial capacity of 140.1 mAh g −1 and retains 92% capacity after 650 cycles at 1C, even maintaining excellent stability at a high rate of 5C. Importantly, the strategy remains effective for severely degraded cathodes, highlighting the broad applicability of radical‐anion‐driven repair chemistry.

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Publication Details

Journal
Angewandte Chemie
Published
2026-04-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.2043607
Primary Topic
Extraction and Separation Processes
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Radical Anion‐Driven Electron‐Ion Coupled Repair Chemistry for Direct Regeneration of Degraded LiFePO 4 Cathodes

Yirui Wang, R Chen, Li Li, J P Qian et al.
Angewandte Chemie
Extraction and Separation Processes
article

Radical Anion‐Driven Electron‐Ion Coupled Repair Chemistry for Direct Regeneration of Degraded LiFePO 4 Cathodes

Yirui Wang, R Chen, Li Li, J P Qian, Xiaowei Lv, Jin Yan, Jiacheng Li
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Direct regeneration of spent LiFePO 4 (LFP) cathodes is a sustainable alternative to conventional recycling methods. However, poor remediation efficiency and complex processes limit its application. Here, we develop a room‐temperature liquid‐phase strategy based on a deep green lithium naphthalenide (Li‐Naph) solution. This strategy utilizes radical anion‐driven electron‐ion coupling remediation chemistry to integrate electron donors, lithium transport, and surface reconstruction within a single solution‐phase platform. The strongly reducing naphthalene radical anion enables spontaneous electron transfer at ambient conditions, efficiently converting Fe 3+ back to Fe 2+ , while promoting surface lithium enrichment through coupled electron–ion interactions. Subsequent annealing allows the enriched lithium to diffuse into lithium vacancies, while the organic residues undergo in situ carbonization into a conformal conductive shell, achieving synergistic bulk repair and surface reconstruction. This chemistry fully restores the olivine framework, suppresses Fe–Li anti‐site defects, and markedly enhances Li + transport kinetics. The regenerated cathode delivers a high initial capacity of 140.1 mAh g −1 and retains 92% capacity after 650 cycles at 1C, even maintaining excellent stability at a high rate of 5C. Importantly, the strategy remains effective for severely degraded cathodes, highlighting the broad applicability of radical‐anion‐driven repair chemistry.

Angewandte Chemie
Beijing Institute of Technology (CN), Key Laboratory of Nuclear Radiation and Nuclear Energy Technology (CN), South China Institute of Collaborative Innovation (CN), University of Science and Technology Beijing (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Responsible consumption and production
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Extraction and Separation Processes
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