JultikaUniversity of Oulu repository

Abstract

Going towards a greener future seems to involve secondary batteries, especially lithium-ion batteries at the moment. Lithium-ion batteries are used in electric vehicles, energy storage, and in portable devices. With electric vehicles increasing production the consumption of lithium-ion batteries is expected to grow significantly in the future.

This brings the question of how green lithium-ion batteries really are? Mining raw materials for lithium-ion batteries has been raising concerns regarding human rights, and it has also resulted in lithium and cobalt to be positioned on the list of critical raw materials in EU, and raised concerns with environmental impacts. In the process of fabricating lithium-ion batteries the solvent normally used, N-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP), is highly toxic and therefore restricted by numerous chemical legislations in industry applications.

Efficient recycling could make lithium-ion batteries environmentally friendly. Although recycling is not sufficient yet, there is a lot of ongoing research in both academia and industry. This thesis review various aspects of battery sustainability and provides some basic guidelines on how to make lithium-ion batteries more sustainable for a greener future.