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New self-assembling material could be the key to recyclable EV batteries | MIT researchers designed an electrolyte that can break apart at the end of a battery’s life, allowing for easier recycling of components.

MIT researchers designed molecules that can serve as the electrolyte in a lithium-ion battery and then quickly break apart at the end of the battery’s life, making it easier to recycle all of the components.

In a new paper published in Nature Chemistry, the researchers showed the material can work as the electrolyte in a functioning, solid-state battery cell and then revert back to its original molecular components in minutes. When he saw a talk by Ortony on engineering molecules so that they could assemble into complex structures and then revert back to their original form, he wondered if it could be used to make battery recycling work like magic. When the molecules are exposed to water, they spontaneously form nanoribbons with ion-conducting PEG surfaces and bases that imitate the robustness of Kevlar through tight hydrogen bonding.

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