A New Way to Recycle Batteries | Makers at the Lab

AMES National Laboratory

Ikenna Nlebedim and Anirudha Karati are scientists at Ames National Laboratory working in the Critical Materials Innovation Hub. The thing they make? Better battery recycling. Only about 5% of lithium batteries are recycled -- that's a big problem, considering American demand for lithium batteries is only going to increase. Recycling batteries for this valuable material is expensive, and can be dangerous for workers because it demands harmful chemicals and extreme temperatures. But what if we c…