ABSTRACT The rapid growth of the lithium‐ion battery (LIB) market has led to a surge in cathode‐scrap generation, emphasizing the urgent need for resource‐efficient and environmentally responsible recycling strategies. While conventional recycling flowsheets effectively recover valuable metals, they typically involve multistep purification to remove Al originating from the cathode current collector. This process often poses technical and environmental challenges, such as managing large volumes of acidic wastewater and the continuous requirement for additional chemical reagents. Herein, a sustainable upcycling route is demonstrated that reutilizes the Al impurity as a functional dopant in LiNi 0.9 Co 0.05 Mn 0.05 1−x Al x O 2 (NCMA), eliminating the need for dedicated Al‐removal and external Al sources. By applying mild‐acid leaching to LiNi 0.6 Co 0.1 Mn 0.3 O 2 (NCM613) scrap, the residual Al content in the leachate is tuned and directly utilized during co‐precipitation and calcination, completing a closed material loop. This approach not only reduces wastewater discharge and chemical consumption but also simplifies the overall recycling process. The resulting upcycled NCMA cathodes exhibit balanced electrochemical performance, retaining 65% of their initial capacity after 500 cycles while maintaining high‐rate capability. These results highlight that impurity‐derived Al, when properly managed, can serve as a sustainable dopant, transforming a contaminant into a resource. The developed process exemplifies a circular, low‐waste strategy that aligns with next‐generation green manufacturing and EU battery regulation frameworks by minimizing secondary waste streams and eliminating the need for virgin Al reagents. image
Lee et al. (Sun,) studied this question.