Degradation mechanism investigation for better sorting and recycling

  • Likely project output: xx April 20xx
  • Theme 1: Pre-treatment and second-life management
  • Main Centre Node: University of Woolongong

Project summary

The degradation of LIBs is complicated, which can be due to the cathode, anode, electrolyte, and/or separator having varying degrees of damage. Understanding the degradation mechanism of spent batteries will ensure safe and efficient processes to receive, assess, and process spent batteries for reuse or recycling. There needs to be a shift away from traditional characterization methods (e.g. disassembling the battery and checking the degradation mechanism), to methods deployable without disassembling the battery.

Benefits to industry

Advanced non-destructive measurements such as electrical, thermal, acoustic, and XRD metrology will be integrated with sensor technologies to understand the condition of cells. The non-destructive testing can be validated by getting feedback from the post-teardown characterization of cells. This will improve accurate and rapid assessment by non-destructive methods to realise re-use or recycling with much safer operations.

Project Lead & Investigators

Co-Leads

  • David Wexler (UoW)
  • Philip van Eyk (UoA)

Chief Investigators

  • David Wexler (Leader, UoW)
  • Jianfeng Mao (UoA)
  • Judith Hart (UNSW)

Partner Investigator and Industry Placement

  • Vanessa Peterson, ANSTO