Glucose-Based Green Solvents for Solid Electrolyte Recovery of All-Solid-State Lithium Batteries: Factors, Properties, Scalability, and Antisolvent-Responsible Precipitation

Choline chloride, p-toluenesulfonic acid, benzoic acid, and oxalic acid-based solvents can be used for recycling solid electrolytes in all-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs); however, they are not naturally available and have relatively low biocompatibility. By contrast, glucose-based low-melting mixture solvents (LoMMSs) stand out as green solvents with advantages including low cost, biodegradability, high biocompatibility, and high natural availability. In this work, GLU-based LoMMSs as green solvents for the recovery of solid electrolytes in ASSLBs are employed. First, leaching factors—including molar ratio, temperature, time, and liquid-to-solid ratio—are comprehensively investigated, resulting in maximum leaching efficiencies of Li and Al of 78.2% and 97.0%, respectively, achieved at 80 °C over a duration of 24 h with a liquid-to-solid ratio of 200. Then, the pH values, infrared spectra, and combustion behaviors of the LoMMSs and leachate are compared. Third, scalability tests are conducted to assess the feasibility of large-scale application. More importantly, an antisolvent-responsive strategy is introduced to precipitate multiple metals from the leachates, and a linear relationship is identified between the polarity of the antisolvents and their precipitation efficiency. Graphical Glucose-based low-melting mixture solvents are proposed as green solvents with high biocompatibility and high natural accessibility for the recovery of solid electrolyte from all-solid-state lithium batteries.