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Circular economy

Pretreating spent lithium-ion batteries

Reusing materials from spent lithium-ion batteries is a key strategy for developing a sustainable supply chain, but we need to deepen our understanding of the associated environmental impacts. Now, a model-based analysis shows that pretreating end-of-life batteries is critical for enhancing the sustainability of recycling.

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Fig. 1: Schematic of a hydrometallurgical lithium-ion battery recycling process.

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Correspondence to Xi Chen.

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Chen, X. Pretreating spent lithium-ion batteries. Nat Sustain (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01760-0

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