This study proposed an innovative method to separate and recover indium and tin from spent indium–tin-oxide (ITO) targets. ITO was first dissolved using concentrated HCl and then the leaching solution was distilled to recycle HCl and crystallize indium and tin ions. Next, the obtained crystals were transferred into SOCl₂ solution under refluxing to remove the crystal water. By simply fractionating the mixture, anhydrous indium chloride, tin tetrachloride, and SOCl₂ can be separated in a single operation. The recovery rate of InCl₃ was ca. 99.6% with a purity of ca. 99.8%, while ca. 98.0% of SnCl₄ was recovered with a purity of ca. 99.7%. Both the recovery rates and purities are the highest reported so far. Since all the reagents used in this process were carefully designed, almost all of the reagents can be reused. This is an environmentally friendly, economical and practical method to efficiently recycle ITO targets.

With the rapid development of the electric vehicle industry, an enormous amount of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has been generated. However, the traditional electrochemical recycling method suffers from high cell potentials (E_cell) and environmental burdens. In addition, anode material recycling has not always attracted much attention. Herein, the strategy of oxidizing an anode current collector and the concept of a “sandwich-type” electrode structure is proposed, which enables the recycling of both spent cathode and anode materials simultaneously in a low energy consumption manner. Electrochemical leaching experiments demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms traditional ways with lower E_cell values (98% Li⁺ and Co²⁺), and a shorter pretreatment process. Meanwhile, the Al foil and graphite are separated from the electrode residues from spent LIB cathodes and anodes, respectively. The recovered graphite can be reutilized for the re-manufacture of anode materials. The life cycle assessment uncovers that the proposed electrochemical process shows a significant reduction of the environmental and human health impacts compared with traditional processes.

In this study, we present a low-cost and simple method to treat spent lead–acid battery wastewater using quicklime and slaked lime. The sulfate and lead were successfully removed using the precipitation method. The structure of quicklime, slaked lime, and resultant residues were measured by X-ray diffraction. The obtained results show that the sulfate removal efficiencies were more than 97% for both quicklime and slaked lime and the lead removal efficiencies were 49% for quicklime and 53% for slaked lime in a non-carbonation process. After the carbonation step, the sulfate removal efficiencies were slightly decreased but the lead removal efficiencies were 68.4% for quicklime and 69.3% for slaked lime which were significantly increased compared with the non-carbonation process. This result suggested that quicklime, slaked lime, and carbon dioxide can be a potential candidate for the removal of sulfate and lead from industrial wastewater treatment.

The boom of the electric vehicle industry significantly aggravates the demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), especially the ternary cathode materials, however, the majority of end-of-life (EOL) LIBs on the market are batteries utilized in customer electronics. Here, we utilized the mixed EOL LIBs from cell phones and laptops to manufacture the LiNi_0.6Co0_.2Mn_0.2O₂ (NCM622) cathode material. A feasible, high efficiency (99.98% Co, 99.98% Ni, 99.99% Mn, and 99.99% Li), and ultra-fast leaching of EOL LIB cathodes was achieved. Thermodynamic calculations suggested that the coordination number, coordination species concentrations, and fractions have significant effects on the apparent activation energy and the equilibrium of the leaching reactions. The remanufactured NCM622 cathode material demonstrated a well-ordered layered hexagonal structure with a low Li⁺/Ni²⁺ mixing ratio, which facilitated reliable reversible capacity, low polarization, high rate capabilities (163.8 mA h g⁻¹), and capacity retention ratio (94.3%).