Current lithium-ion battery recycling extracts valuable metals while discarding much of the battery’s leftover value. An emerging strategy called direct battery regeneration upends this model, restoring the battery’s performance without taking it apart — presenting a more efficient, sustainable option for end-of-life batteries.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Degen, F., Winter, M., Bendig, D. & Tübke, J. Energy consumption of current and future production of lithium-ion and post lithium-ion battery cells. Nat. Energy 8, 1284–1295 (2023).
Lai, X. et al. Investigating greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts from the production of lithium-ion batteries in China. J. Clean. Prod. 372, 133756 (2022).
Kim, D.-S. et al. Simultaneous separation and renovation of lithium cobalt oxide from the cathode of spent lithium ion rechargeable batteries. J. Power Sources 132, 145–149 (2004).
Fan, M. et al. In situ electrochemical regeneration of degraded LiFePO4 electrode with functionalized prelithiation separator. Adv. Energy Mater. 12, 2103630 (2022).
Ogihara, N. et al. Direct capacity regeneration for spent Li-ion batteries. Joule 8, 1364–1379 (2024).
Zhao, X., Chen, H., Wu, H., Zhao, Y. & Luo, J. Nondisassembly repair of degraded LiFePO4 cells via lithium restoration from the solid electrolyte interphase. ACS Nano 18, 21125–21134 (2024).
Jiao, Y. et al. Nondestructive electrical activation enables multiple life cycles for degraded batteries. Adv. Funct. Mater. 34, 2400753 (2024).
Yang, Y. et al. Capacity recovery by transient voltage pulse in silicon-anode batteries. Science 386, 322–327 (2024).
Chen, S. et al. External Li supply reshapes Li deficiency and lifetime limit of batteries. Nature 638, 676–683 (2025).
Gong, H. et al. Noninvasive rejuvenation strategy of nickel-rich layered positive electrode for Li-ion battery through magneto-electrochemical synergistic activation. Nat. Commun. 15, 10243 (2024).
Acknowledgements
This work is financially supported by the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (KCXST20221021111201003) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (numbers 22379085, 52261160384 and 52072208).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhao, Y., Du, H., Kang, Y. et al. Spent battery regeneration for better recycling. Nat Rev Mater 10, 722–724 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-025-00816-z
Published:
Version of record:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-025-00816-z
