Comment on Applying 'extreme heat' to lithium-ion batteries reportedly restores their capacity, and I think it's the sustainable tech breakthrough of 2025

• isolatedscotch@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  wha wha what

  no, it’s an organic solvent like ethylene carbonate/propylene carbonate + some other stuff, which have a boiling point of 230+°C ( 446°F)

  heating up batteries is (mostly) fine (under controlled scenarios with known good batteries, spicy pillows can always happen with bad batches) as long as the plastic holding them together doesn’t melt

  you physically CANNOT make a lithium ion battery with water because lithium reacts with water

  from the wikipedia page

  Lithium reacts vigorously with water to form lithium hydroxide (LiOH) and hydrogen gas. Thus, a non-aqueous electrolyte is typically used, and a sealed container rigidly excludes moisture from the battery pack. The non-aqueous electrolyte is typically a mixture of organic carbonates such as ethylene carbonate and propylene carbonate containing complexes of lithium ions.[45] Ethylene carbonate is essential for making solid electrolyte interphase on the carbon anode,[46] but since it is solid at room temperature, a liquid solvent (such as propylene carbonate or diethyl carbonate) is added.

  source
• Skydancer@pawb.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  That still doesn’t follow. For every mole of particles dissolved in a liter of water, the boiling point of water increases by about 0.5°C.

  source

  • Rolive@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Good point. It’s highly concentrated inside a battery if not saturated. Hmm. I still wouldn’t expose them to such high temperatures.

    Perhaps a longer duration at lower temperature is safer. I might try it some day with some waste batteries and a battery tester.

    source