In a recent study published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials on the 29th, researchers from Rice University in the United States described a fast, efficient, and environmentally friendly method for selective lithium recovery using microwave radiation and easily biodegradable solvents. The research results show that the new process can recover up to 50% of the lithium in the cathode of waste lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in just 30 seconds, breaking through a major bottleneck in LIB recycling technology. At present, there is a high demand for lithium, a silver white metal, and it is facing a situation of supply shortage. The traditional method of recovering lithium from waste batteries can cause environmental pollution and has extremely low efficiency. This is mainly due to the pollution and loss of lithium during the recycling process, as well as the high energy consumption during the recycling process. Due to the fact that lithium usually precipitates after other metals, researchers are trying to find a specific recovery method for lithium. This time, researchers used a mixture of choline chloride and ethylene glycol as a deep eutectic solvent (DES). They have previously discovered that during the DES leaching process, lithium is surrounded by chloride ions in choline chloride and leached into the solution. In order to leach other metals such as cobalt or nickel, both choline chloride and ethylene glycol must participate in the process. Among these two substances, only choline chloride is good at absorbing microwaves, so researchers immersed battery waste in a solvent and irradiated it with microwaves to selectively leach lithium from other metals. Using microwave radiation for this process is similar to quickly heating food in a kitchen microwave. Energy is directly transferred to molecules, making the reaction much faster than traditional heating methods. Using microwave technology, researchers found that leaching 87% of lithium takes 15 minutes, while obtaining the same recovery rate through oil bath heating takes 12 hours. This breakthrough method can greatly improve the economy and environmental impact of lithium-ion battery recycling, providing a sustainable new solution to the increasingly serious global problems. With the increasing number of new energy vehicles, the demand for lithium-ion batteries has also skyrocketed. Traditional lithium-ion battery recycling methods not only have low efficiency, but also cause resource waste and environmental pollution. This time, the research team has brought a new method for recycling lithium-ion batteries - microwave. Immerse battery waste in a special solvent that is easily biodegradable, and then microwave irradiate, that is, heat, to leach out more lithium in a shorter time -87% of lithium can be leached out in just 15 minutes. This breakthrough method can efficiently recover lithium, providing a green and efficient solution to the global problem of lithium-ion battery recycling. (New Society)