Pretreatment options for the recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries: A comprehensive review

The growing demand for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) has led to numerous batteries-usage, generating a large number of spent LIBs due to its limited service life. Considering the high recovery value of precious metals contained in the cathodes from spent LIBs, the research on the method of recycling cathode materials is a hot topic. Throughout the recycling-to-reuse process, the concern is not just how to recycle the cathode material, but also how to recover the precious metals flexibly and efficiently with the pretreatment of spent LIBs based on the variety of LIBs and the complexity of the battery system. This review mainly integrates the research on the pretreatment of spent LIBs recycling from the perspective of recycling process, bringing engineers, researchers and readers new inspiration about the recycling life of LIBs.