Centre for Sustainable Materials Processing
Faradays interns best poster
Zayd Islam and Punit Jivan performed an internship at the Material Centre during the past summer, which were carried out in the frame of the Faraday Undergraduate Summer Experience (FUSE) internship programme. Both of them were awarded best poster prizes for their visual appeal and research progress and findings, respectively.
By 2030, the worldwide usage of lithium-ion batteries alone is predicted to hit 2 million metric tonnes per year. One of the major issues limiting automatic disassembly, and hence faster recycling, is the structural adhesives used during assembly of the cells, modules and packs. In this context, Zayd’s internship focused on the development of a concertina-fold design for packing cells to decrease disassembly times, with Pressure Sensitive Adhesives (PSAs) used to hold them together. These designs were then disassembled automatically by cutting-edge robot technology.
On the other hand, one of the major barriers to recycling LIBs is the extensive use of epoxy resins in module and pack construction. The use of debondable adhesives in renewable energy generation and storage has recently been reviewed. It was suggested that only chemical debonding would be appropriate for LIBs. As with all aspects of battery recycling, the process will need to be fast and inexpensive. Thus, Punit’s internship focused on the development of a debonding process with negligible cost that occurred in less than 5 minutes – this could be an important tool in LIB design for recycle.