Recycling of Electrolyte Components

One of the main endeavors in scientific research is to make processes and products more environmentally friendly. Our working group is therefore trying to find greener electrolytes for energy storage systems. “Green” means, for example, using substances that can be produced sustainably, are biodegradable or contain as little fluorine as possible.

It is generally known that with increasing electrification and the expansion of renewable energies, the demand for energy storage systems will continue to rise. Experts agree that the most sustainable systems are those that can be reused. While the recycling of electrode materials has been researched for years and is already being implemented industrially in some cases, electrolytes have been less researched to date. Our working group is therefore focusing on the recycling of electrolytes. The aim is to design electrolytes for various systems in such a way that, after the end-of-life of the battery, they can be recovered efficiently and sustainably (water-based).