Upcycling the Spent Graphite Anode Into the Prelithiation Catalyst: A Separator Strategy Toward Anode-Free Cell Prototyping.

The substantial manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) requires sustainable, circular, and decarbonized recycling strategies. While efforts are concentrated on extracting valuable metals from cathodes using intricate chemical process, the direct, efficient cathode regeneration remains a technological challenge. More urgently, the battery supply chain also requires the value-added exploitation of retired anodes.

Unleashing the Potential of High-Capacity Anodes through an Interfacial Prelithiation Strategy.

The scalable development of an environmentally adaptive and homogeneous Li supplementary route remains a formidable challenge for the existing prelithiation technologies, restricting the full potential of high-capacity anodes. In this study, we present a moisture-tolerant interfacial prelithiation approach through casting a hydrophobic poly(vinylidene--hexafluoropropylene) membrane blended with a deep-lithiated alloy (LiSiC/PVDF-HFP) onto Si based anodes. This strategy could not only extend to various high-capacity anode systems (SiO@C, hard carbon) but also align with industrial roll-to-roll assembly processes.

Encasing Prelithiated Silicon Species in the Graphite Scaffold: An Enabling Anode Design for the Highly Reversible, Energy-Dense Cell Model.

Si anodes suffer from poor cycling efficiency because of the pulverization induced by volume expansion, lithium trapping in Li-Si alloys, and unfavorable interfacial side reactions with the electrolyte; the comprehensive consideration of the Si anode design is required for their practical deployment. In this article, we develop a cabbage-inspired graphite scaffold to accommodate the volume expansion of silicon particles in interplanar spacing. With further interfacial modification and prelithiation processing, the Si@G/C anode with an areal capacity of 4.