Lithium Battery and Water Reactions Water can trigger hazardous reactions in lithium batteries due to the highly reactive nature of lithium with moisture. When water infiltrates a lithium battery, it instigates a series of detrimental reactions that can lead to heat generation, hydrogen gas release, and potential fire hazards.
However, little attention has been paid to the voltage rebound phenomenon during the discharge pretreatment of spent LIBs. However, this phenomenon shows that spent LIBs still have some residual power after discharge, which will cause safety risks during battery disassembly and crushing.
The discharge characteristics of lithium-ion batteries are influenced by multiple factors, including chemistry, temperature, discharge rate, and internal resistance. Monitoring these characteristics is vital for efficient battery management and maximizing lifespan.
With ultrasonication, the batteries are fully discharged in less than 2 hours, which is equivalent to a reduction of more than 90% in the required duration. As stated, the main reason for the time-consuming discharge of the LIBs was the deposition and corrosion caused by the reactions between the salt solution and the electrodes.
Water use during manufacturing is relatively small at this life cycle stage compared to upstream extractive processes and consumes just 7% of the overall embodied water in a lithium-ion battery (Dai et al., 2019).
As the use of intermittent energy sources such as solar and wind grows, the need for storage of electrical energy becomes more pronounced. One such storage method is the use of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) (Jiang et al., 2018).