Direct recycling of Lithium-ion Batteries Using Novel Nanoemulsions

Applications are sought from talented and motivated UK candidates with an academic background in chemistry or material science. Experience with batteries or electrochemistry would be an advantage but is not essential.

Supervisors

• Dr Jake Yang (Jake.yang@leicester.ac.uk)
• Professor Andy Abbott

Project

In 2025, in the UK alone, a stockpile of ca. 70,000-106,000 units of obsolete end-of-first-life EV batteries are waiting to be recycled. The challenge posing across the entire industry is how to recycle and remanufacture EV cells without destructive recovery of precious metals via legacy processes such as pyro/hydrometallurgy, which are the current industry standards. A recent Leicester-developed and patent-pending technology demonstrated success in separation of black mass from different sources into highly pure cathode and anode components using ultrasound-generated vegetable oil-in-water nano emulsions.[1] The process takes minutes and enables short-loop recycling of LIBs without altering the original battery crystalline structure. This is the ideal method to reprocess battery production scraps to allow active materials to be directly recast into another cell. However, research questions remain.

In this work, in collaboration with a major automotive OEM, you will develop the novel separation techniques using chemical knowledge, benchmarked short-loop remanufactured cells against pristine cells from which the materials were recovered from and further develop this technology for real-world battery production scraps. You will learn technoeconomic and life-cycle analysis to be able to benchmark the work against the legacy technology. There will be an opportunity to carry out placement studies with a major automotive OEM.

Key funding and benefits

• Fully funded for UK applicants
• £24,000 Stipend per annum (tax free)
• Access to Faraday Institution PhD training and workshops through the ReLiB project

The successful candidate will gain expertise in

• State-0f-the-art battery chemistries
• Battery materials recovery and recycling technologies
• Design-for-recycling principles
• Techno-economic and life-cycle analysis
• Translating fundamental chemistry into practical, scalable solutions

This PhD studentship offers a unique opportunity to contribute to one of the most pressing challenges in the electrification of transport, applying cutting-edge green chemistry to real-world industrial needs.

References

[1] RSC Sustainability 3 (3), 1516-1523

For queries regarding the project, please email Jake Yang directly Email: jake.yang@leicester.ac.uk

To apply please refer to the advice at https://le.ac.uk/study/research-degrees/funded-opportunities/chem-epsrc-yang

Funding Notes

The is project is funded by EPSRC and is open to UK applicants only.

Funding provides:

• 4 year UK tuition fees
• 4 year stipend of £24,000 per year