Natural Biomass Soups (NBSs): New Green Solvents Replacing Ionic Liquids and Deep Eutectic Solvents for Lithium-Ion Batteries Recovery
Yu Chen, Fuguang Zhang, Yi Chang, Jing Wang, Qi Zhang, Mingshuai Yang, Zhenghui Liu, Ziyang Zhang
Abstract
Water, supercritical fluids, ionic liquids, and deep eutectic solvents have been deemed as traditional green solvents. The increasing demand for sustainable development necessitates the exploration of innovative green solvents due to some disadvantages of the traditional green solvents. In this regard, a novel concept of “natural biomass soups (NBSs)” is introduced to be eco-friendly alternatives to traditional green solvents. NBSs represent the solvents directly prepared from natural biomass without any additional industrial purification, rendering the advantages of being cheap, simple, green, biocompatible, natural, tunable, and task-specific and avoiding the usage of any additional solvents/catalysts/additives. An exemplary application of NBSs involves their exceptional ability to efficiently extract metals from lithium-ion battery cathodes at mild temperatures. NBSs have the potential to replace ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents and significantly expand the realm of green solvents and green chemistry.