Researchers in the Department of Chemistry and the Advanced Materials Research Institute at the University of New Orleans are working with scientists from the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM on upcycling rechargeable batteries. Led by UNO doctoral student Kirsten Jones, along with UNO professor John Wiley and Clare Davis-Wheeler Chin of Sandia National Laboratories, they are exploring methods to recover and reuse critical components of expired lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.

Strategic elements like lithium and cobalt are contained within the batteries and huge cost savings could be realized if scientists can find effective routes for repurposing spent cells. After Jones carried out a 3-month internship in Chin’s lab in Albuquerque, UNO earned a $20,000 grant to continue the work with Sandia National Laboratories.

“Success could go far to advance clean energy by not only recycling, but upcycling lithium-ion batteries to make them more useful,” said Jones, who is a 5th year Ph.D. student working in Wiley’s lab.

Wiley is a President’s Research Professor, Charles J. O'Connor Ph.D. Endowed Professor in Chemistry and UNO Foundation Endowed Professor in Materials Chemistry, and the director of the Advanced Materials Research Institute. Davis-Wheeler Chin is an electronics engineer at the SNL Microsystems Engineering, Science and Applications (MESA) Complex and a UNO alumna who earned her chemistry doctorate in 2018.