As the quiet whirr of electric vehicles gradually replaces the revs and noxious fumes of internal combustion engines, a number of changes are set to filter through our familiar world. The overpowering smell of gas stations will fade away into odourless charge stations where cars can re-juice their batteries as needed. Meanwhile, gas-powered generator sites that dot the horizon may be retrofitted to house massive batteries that could one day power entire cities with renewable energy.

当公路上燃油汽车内燃机产生的震动和排放的有毒气体正逐渐被电动汽车的平稳和静音所取代之时，我们所熟悉的世界将会发生很多变化。加油站的刺鼻气味将逐渐消失，取而代之的是提供汽车随时可以充电但却无刺鼻气味的充电站。同时，天边随处可见的天然气发电站也可能会重建为能容纳大型电池的电站，这些大型电池有朝一日可以作为再生能源为整个城市提供电力。

This electrified future is much closer than you might think. General Motors announced earlier this year that it plans to stop selling gas-powered vehicles by 2035. Audi's goal is to stop producing them by 2033, and many other major auto companies are following suit. In fact, according to BloombergNEF, two-thirds of the world's passenger vehicle sales will be electric by 2040. And grid-scale systems the world over are growing rapidly thanks to advancing battery storage technology.

汽车电气化的到来比我们原想象的要快得多。美国通用汽车2021年年初宣布，计划在2035年前停止销售汽油动力汽车。德国汽车制造商奥迪的目标是到2033年停止生产燃油车，其他大型汽车公司也纷纷跟随。据彭博财经社报道，到2040年，全球三分之二的载人汽车将会是电动车。由于电池储电技术的进步，全球电网的电池储电系统也正在迅速发展。

While this may sound like the ideal path to sustainable power and road travel, there's one big problem. Currently, lithium (Li) ion batteries are those typically used in EVs and the megabatteries used to store energy from renewables, and Li batteries are hard to recycle.

虽然汽车电气化的到来听来像是实现可持续能源和公路环保旅行最理想不过的路径，但有一个大问题成为实现理想的障碍。目前，通常用于电动车和存储可再生能源的超大容量电池是锂离子电池（简称锂电池），而锂电池很难做到回收利用。

One reason is that the most widely used methods of recycling more traditional batteries, like lead-acid batteries, don't work well with Li batteries. The latter are typically larger, heavier, much more complex and even dangerous if taken apart wrong.

一个原因是，现在广泛适用于传统电池，如铅酸电池的回收技术，无法用于锂电池的回收。锂电池比前者更大和更重、而且构造更复杂，如果拆开方法不当，甚至会有危险。

In your average battery recycling plant, battery parts are shredded down into a powder, and then that powder is either melted (pyrometallurgy) or dissolved in acid (hydrometallurgy). But Li batteries are made up of lots of different parts that could explode if they're not disassembled carefully. And even when Li batteries are broken down this way, the products aren't easy to reuse.

在一般的电池回收工厂中，电池零件先被粉碎成粉状颗粒，然后再加以熔化（即火法冶金)，或溶解到酸液中（即湿法冶金），以回收其中的金属物。而锂电池则由很多不同的部件组成，如果不小心拆卸，这些部件可能会爆炸。即使锂电池按一般电池作分解，分解出来的产品也很难回收再用。

"The current method of simply shredding everything and trying to purify a complex mixture results in expensive processes with low value products," says Andrew Abbott, a physical chemist at the University of Leicester. As a result, it costs more to recycle them than to mine more lithium to make new ones. Also, since large scale, cheap ways to recycle Li batteries are lagging behind, only about 5% of Li batteries are recycled globally, meaning the majority are simply going to waste.

英国莱斯特大学（University of Leicester）的物理化学家安德鲁·阿伯特（Andrew Abbott）说，“目前的电池回收方法只是简单地将所有东西粉碎，然后再提取精炼复杂的混合物，这一回收过程成本高，但成功回收的产品价值却不高。”因此，回收锂电池的成本比开采更多金属锂来生产新锂电池的成本还要大。此外，由于大规模廉价回收锂电池的方式相当落后，全球只有大约5%的锂电池能够回收。换言之，大多数锂电池最后都成了垃圾废品。

But as demand for EVs escalates, as it's projected to, the impetus to recycle more of them is set to barrel through the battery and motor vehicle industry.

不过随着对电动汽车的需求不断升级，就如预计所料，电池业和汽车行业很快将会有更大的动力回收更多的电动车电池

The current shortcomings in Li battery recycling isn't the only reason they are an environmental strain. Mining the various metals needed for Li batteries requires vast resources. It takes 500,000 gallons (2,273,000 litres) of water to mine one tonne of lithium. In Chile's Atacama Salt Flats, lithium mining has been linked to declining vegetation, hotter daytime temperatures and increasing drought conditions in national reserve areas. So even though EVs may help reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions over their lifetime, the battery that powers them starts its life laden with a large environmental footprint.

锂电池的回收还不是造成环境压力的唯一原因。开采锂电池所需的各种金属需要大量资源。开采一吨锂需要消耗50万加仑的水。在智利的阿塔卡马盐滩（Atacama Salt Flats），因为开采锂矿，结果造成植被减少、白天气温升高，以及所在的国家保护区干旱日益严重等环保问题。因此，尽管电动汽车可以有助于减少二氧化碳的排放，但为其提供动力的电池一开始就对环境造成了很大的影响。

If the millions upon millions of Li batteries that will give out after around 10 years or so of use   are recycled more efficiently, however, it will help neutralise all that energy expenditure. Several labs have been working on refining more efficient recycling methods so that, eventually, a standardised, eco-friendly way to recycle Li batteries will be ready to meet skyrocketing demand.

锂电池使用大约10年就会报废，如果能有效回收报废的千百万块锂电池，将有助于中和生产及回收锂电池所消耗的能源。现已有好一些科研实验室在改进更有效的回收方法，一旦成功，最终能找到一个既标准化也很环保的回收技术，就能充分迎接锂电池需求量大增时代的到来。

"We have to find ways to make it enter what we call a circular lifecycle, because the lithium and the cobalt and nickel take a lot of electricity and a lot of effort to be mined and refined and made into the batteries. We can no longer treat the batteries as disposable," says Shirley Meng, professor in energy technologies at the University of California, San Diego.

加州大学圣地亚哥分校（University of California, San Diego）的能源技术教授孟颖（Shirley Meng）说，“我们必须找到方法让锂电池进入我们所说的循环生命周期，因为锂、钴和镍需要大量的电力和大量的工作来开采、提炼和制造电池。我们不能再把锂电池当作一次性使用的产品。”

如何回收锂电池

A Li battery cell has a metal cathode, or positive electrode that collects electrons during the electrochemical reaction, made of lithium and some mix of elements that typically include cobalt, nickel, manganese and iron. It also has an anode, or the electrode that releases electrons to the external circuit, made of graphite, a separator and an electrolyte of some kind, which is the medium that transports the electrons between cathode and anode. The lithium ions travelling from the anode to the cathode form an electric current. The metals in the cathode are the most valuable parts of the battery, and these are what chemists focus on preserving and refurbishing when they dismantle an Li battery.

锂电池有一个金属阴极装置，或称为正极，由锂和一些混合元素组成，通常包括钴、镍、锰和铁，其作用是在电化学反应中接受电子。锂电池还有一个阳极装置，或称负极，由石墨、分离器和某种电解液组成，功能是将阴极的电子释放到外部电路。电解液作用是充当阳极到阴极之间传输锂离子而形成电流的介质。阴极中的金属是电池最有价值的部分，这是化学家拆卸锂电池时主要保存和提炼的物质。

Meng says to think of an Li battery like a bookshelf with many layers, and the lithium ions rapidly move across each shelf, cycling back each time to the top shelf – a process called intercalation. After years and years, the bookshelf naturally starts to break down and collapse. So when chemists like Meng dismantle an Li battery, that's the sort of degradation they see in the structure and materials.

孟颖说，可以把锂离子电池想象成一个有许多层隔的书架，而锂离子会经过书架每一层快速移动，每次循环都会回到最上面的一层，这个化学过程被称为插层，或曰嵌入。经历多年的不断嵌入后，这个锂电池书架自然会崩坏坍塌。所以当化学家如孟颖等拆卸这个用了几年的锂电池时，他们在锂电池结构和材料上所看到的就是这种退化。

"We can actually find the mechanisms, [and] either using heat or some kind of chemical treatment method, we can put the bookshelf back [together]," says Meng. "So we can let those recycled and refurbished materials go back to the assembly line to the [Li battery] factories to be made into new batteries."

孟颖说，“我们可以找到其中的机制，通过加热或某种化学处理方法，把这个锂电池书架重新组装起来。因此，我们可以把这些回收和翻新的金属材料送回到锂电池工厂的装配线，生产新的电池。”

Improving Li battery recycling and ultimately making their parts reusable will reinfuse value into the Li batteries already out there. This is why scientists are advocating for the direct recycling process Meng describes – because it can give the most precious parts of Li batteries, like the cathode and anode, a second life. This could significantly offset the energy, waste and costs associated with manufacturing them.

改善锂电池的回收利用，并最终实现可重复使用其部件，将会为价值颇高的锂电池再增加新的价值。这就是为什么科学家们要提倡直接回收再用，如孟颖所说，因为直接回收可以给锂电池的价值最高部件，即阴极和阳极材料予第二次生命。这可以显著抵消制造锂电池所消耗的能源和废料，以及付出的成本。

But disassembling Li batteries is currently being done predominantly by hand in lab settings, which will need to change if direct recycling is to compete with more traditional recycling methods. "In the future, there will need to be more technology in disassembly," says Abbott. "If a battery is assembled using robots, it is logical that it needs to be disassembled in the same way."

但目前锂电池的拆卸主要还只能是实验室中靠人手完成，如果直接回收利用要与较传统的回收方法相竞争，就需要改变人手拆卸这种低效率的方法。阿伯特说：“未来需要技术含量较高的拆卸法。如果用机器人组装电池，那么以同样的方式予以拆卸也是合逻辑的。”

Abbott's team at the Faraday Institution in the UK is investigating the robotic disassembly of Li batteries as part of the ReLib Project, which specialises in the recycling and reuse of Li batteries. The team has also found a way to achieve direct recycling of the anode and cathode using an ultrasonic probe, "like what the dentist uses to clean your teeth," he explains. "It focuses ultrasound on a surface which creates tiny bubbles that implode and blast the coating off the surface." This process avoids having to shred the battery parts, which can make recovering them exceedingly difficult.

阿伯特在英国法拉第研究所（Faraday Institution）的团队正在研发机器人拆卸锂电池的技术，这是专门研究锂电池的回收和再利用计划ReLib Project的一部分。这个研究团队还发现了一种利用超声波探头实现阳极端和阴极端直接回收的方法。他解释道，“就像牙医清洁牙齿一样，用超声波聚焦在正负两个电极板表面，使内层产生微小的气泡，然后发生内爆，将表面的涂层炸离。”这一过程维护了这两个重要部件的完整，避免了以往必须完全拆解因而使得回收大不易这个难题。

According to Abbott's team's research, this ultrasonic recycling method can process 100 times more material over the same period than the more traditional hydrometallurgy method. He says it can also be done for less than half the cost of creating a new battery from virgin material.

根据阿伯特团队的研究，在同样长的时间，这种超声波回收方法可以比传统的湿法冶金方法多处理100倍的材料。他说，这种回收技术所耗成本甚至还不到用原始材料制造新电池成本的一半。

Abbott believes the process can easily be applied to scale, and used on larger grid-based batteries, because they typically have the same battery cell structure, they just contain more cells. However, the team is currently only applying it to production scrap, from which parts are easier to separate, because they're already free of their casings. The team's robotic dismantling tests are ramping up though. "We have a demonstrator unit that currently works on whole electrodes and we hope in the next 18 months to be able to showcase an automated process working in a production facility," says Abbott.

阿伯特认为，超声波回收技术很容易作规模性回收，可运用于为电网储电的大型电池，因为这种电池的结构通常与电动车电池相同，只是包含更多的电池组而已。不过这个研究团队目前只将超声波回收技术应用于比较容易拆卸的报废电池，因为这些电池已经没有外壳。不过，研究团队也在加强测试机器人拆解技术。阿伯特说，“我们有一个演示的机器人，目前在展示回收整个电极的工作。我们希望在未来的18个月能够展示在生产线工作的自动化流程。”

可降解的电池

Some scientists are advocating for a move away from Li batteries in favour of ones that can be produced and broken down in more eco-friendly ways. Jodie Lutkenhaus, a professor of chemical engineering at Texas A&M University, has been working on a battery that is made of organic substances that can degrade on command.

一些科学家正在提倡抛弃锂电池，转为使用能够以较环保的方式生产和分解的电池。美国德州农工大学（Texas A&M University）的化学工程教授朱迪·卢肯豪斯（Jodie Lutkenhaus）一直在研究一种由有机物质制成可以按指令降解的电池。

"Many batteries today are not recycled because of the associated energy and labour cost," says Lutkenhaus. "Batteries that degrade on command may simplify or lower the barrier to recycling. Eventually, these degradation products could be reconstituted back into a fresh new battery, closing the materials life-cycle loop."

卢肯豪斯说，“由于相关的能源和劳动力成本，今天许多电池是无法回收的。而按指令可降解的电池可以简化或降低回收的障碍。最终，这些降解产物可以被重新组装成新的电池，从而结束电池材料最后只能报废的结局。”

It's a fair argument considering that, even when a Li battery is dismantled and its parts are refurbished, there will still be some parts that can't be saved and become waste. A degradable battery like the one Lutkenhaus' team is working on could be a more sustainable power source.

这是相当合理的论点，因为即使拆卸锂电池后有一些部件可以翻新再用，但仍然会有一些部分无法保存而永远报废。卢肯豪斯团队正在研究的可降解电池可能是一种可持续性更强的能源手段。

Organic Radical Batteries (ORBs) have been around since the 2000s, and function with the help of organic materials that are synthesised to store and release electrons. "An Organic Radical Battery has two of these [materials], both acting as electrodes, that work in concert to store and release electrons, or energy, together," explains Lutkenhaus.

这种名叫有机自由基电池（ORBS）的可降解电池在21世纪初已问世，其机制是通过合成有机材料来存储和释放电量。卢肯豪斯解释说。“有机自由基电池有两种这样的有机物，都能作为电极材料，协同存储和释放电子或能量。”

The team uses an acid to break their ORBs down into amino acids and other byproducts, however, conditions need to be just right for the parts to degrade properly. "Eventually we found that acid at elevated heat worked," says Lutkenhaus.

这个研究小组使用一种酸将有机电池分解成氨基酸和其他副产品，不过需要恰到好处的环境条件才能正常降解。卢肯豪斯说，“最终，我们发现酸在高温下能起降解作用。”

There are a number of challenges ahead for this degradable battery though. The materials needed to create it are expensive, and it has yet to provide the amount of power required for high-demand applications like EVs and power grids. But perhaps the greatest challenge degradable batteries like Lutkenhaus's face is competing with the already well-established Li battery.

然而，这种可降解电池还面临着许多挑战。首先所需的材料非常昂贵，其次还不能提供电动汽车和电网这类需求高电量的电池。不过并非仅止于此，卢肯豪斯等科学家研发的可降解电池面临的最大挑战可能是如何与已经规模生产广泛应用的锂电池相竞争。

The next step for scientists pushing direct recycling of Li batteries forward is working with battery manufacturers and recycling plants to streamline the process from build to breakdown.

科学家推动直接回收锂电池的下一步是与电池制造商和回收工厂合作，简化从建造到分解的过程。

"We are really encouraging all the battery cell manufacturers to barcode all the batteries so with robotic AI techniques we can easily sort out the batteries," says Meng. "It takes the entire field to cooperate with each other in order to make that happen."

孟颖说，“我们鼓励所有的电池制造商给所有的电池贴上条形码，有了人工智能机器人技术，我们可以很容易拣选电池。这需要整个领域的合作才能实现。”

Li batteries are used to power many different devices, from laptops to cars to power grids, and the chemical makeup differs depending on the purpose, sometimes significantly. This should be reflected in the way they're recycled. Scientists say battery recycling plants must separate the various Li batteries into separate streams, similar to how different types of plastic are sorted when recycled, in order for the process to be most efficient. 

锂电池用来为众多不同的设备供电，比如笔记本电脑、电动汽车，以及输电网等，因而锂电池的化学组成因用途不同会有所区别，有时差异会很大。这使得回收也应该有不同方式。科学家说，电池回收工厂必须将各种锂电池分成不同的工作流程，就像塑料回收要对不同类型的塑料进行分类一样，这样才能使回收过程最为有效。

And even though they face an uphill battle, more sustainable batteries are slowly but surely coming onto the scene. "We can already see designs entering the market which make assembly and disassembly easier, and it is probable that this will be an important topic in future battery development," says Abbott.

尽管科学家的研发面临着重重困难，可持续性更强的电池正缓慢而稳步地进入市场。阿伯特说，“我们已经可以看到，组装和拆卸较容易的设计已经进入市场，这很可能是未来电池发展的一个重要主题。”

On the production side, battery and car manufacturers are working on cutting down on the materials needed to build Li batteries to help reduce energy expenditure during mining and the waste each battery creates at the end of its life.

在生产方面，电池和汽车制造商正在努力减少制造锂电池所需的材料，以帮助减少采矿过程中的能源消耗，以及每个电池在寿命结束时产生的废物。

Electric car manufacturers have also begun to reuse and repurpose their own batteries in a number of different ways. For example, Nissan is refurbishing old Leaf car batteries and putting them in automated guided vehicles that bring parts to its factories.

电动汽车制造商也开始以各种不同的方式回收和翻新再用自产汽车的电池。例如，日产汽车翻新聆风（Leaf）电动汽车的旧电池，然后安装在将零部件运送到日产工厂组装线的自动导航车辆上。

Speed bumps ahead前方有减速带

The steadily increasing market demand for EVs already has companies across the automobile industry spending billions of dollars on increasing the sustainability of Li batteries. However, China is currently the largest producer of Li batteries by far, and subsequently ahead when it comes to recycling them.

电动汽车市场需求的稳步增长，已经促使整个汽车行业花费数十亿美元来提高锂电池的可持续性。中国目前是锂电池的最大生产国，因此在回收领域也有能力领先同业。

Widely adopting standardised methods for recycling Li batteries that include sorting streams for the different types will get them a big step closer. Meanwhile, using AI technology to refurbish the most useful parts, such as the cathode, could help countries with small supplies of Li battery components to not have to rely so much on China.

如果广泛采用标准化回收锂电池技术，包括对不同类型的锂电池进行分流处理，这将使中国往电池回收领先世界的目标迈进一大步。与此同时，利用人工智能技术翻新阴极等最有用的部件，可能有助于锂电池零部件供应较少的国家不必过于依赖中国。

Developing new batteries that might rival the Li battery will also likely shake up the industry by creating some healthy competition. "I do think it does the world better if we diversify the portfolio for battery storage, particularly for grid storage," says Meng.

开发可与锂电池相抗衡的新电池，也会为电池业创造健康的竞争环境，从而撼动这个行业。孟颖说，“我确实认为，如果我们对电池存储技术，尤其是网格存储作分散多样投资，会让这个世界变得更好。”

The advent of a less complex, safer battery that is cheaper to make and easier to separate at the end of its life is the ultimate answer to the current sustainability problem with EVs. But until such a battery makes an appearance, standardising Li battery recycling is a significant move in the right direction.

解决当前电动汽车可持续发展问题的最终答案，是要找到一种不那么复杂但却比较安全，制造成本较低但寿命结束后却较易分解的电池。但在这种理想电池问世之前，锂电池回收技术标准化是朝着正确方向迈出的重要一步。

And in about 2025, when millions of EV batteries reach the end of their initial life cycles, a streamlined recycling process will look much more appealing to economies the world over. So perhaps, by the time EVs become the predominant form of transport, there will be a good chance their batteries will be gearing up for a second life.

到2025年左右，数以百万计的电动汽车的电池将达到其初始寿命周期完结之时，因此一个简单而高效率的电池回收流程对全世界的经济体都会深具吸引力。所以，当电动汽车成为人类主要交通工具的时候，很有可能那时电动车电池将不会寿终正寝，而会获得第二次生命，重新启动汽车驰上公路。