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Direct recycling methods offer a non‐destructive way to regenerate degraded cathode material. The materials to be recycled in the industry typically constitute a mixture of various cathode materials extracted from a wide variety of retired lithium‐ion batteries. Bridging the gap, a direct recycling method using a low‐temperature sintering process is reported. The degraded cathode mixture of LMO (LiMn₂O₄) and NMC (LiNiCoMnO₂) extracted from retired LIBs was successfully regenerated by the proposed method with a low sintering temperature of 300°C for 4 h. Advanced characterization tools were utilized to validate the full recovery of the crystal structure in the degraded cathode mixture. After regeneration, LMO/NMC cathode mixture shows an initial capacity of 144.0 mAh g⁻¹and a capacity retention of 95.1% at 0.5 C for 250 cycles. The regenerated cathode mixture also shows a capacity of 83 mAh g⁻¹at 2 C, which is slightly higher compared to the pristine material. As a result of the direct recycling process, the electrochemical performance of degraded cathode mixture is recovered to the same level as the pristine material. Life‐cycle assessment results emphasized a 90.4% reduction in energy consumption and a 51% reduction in PM2.5 emissions for lithium‐ion battery packs using a direct recycled cathode mixture compared to the pristine material. 

Direct recycling of lithium ion batteries from electric vehicles aims to close the loop of battery manufacturing. This study presents a novel process-based life cycle assessment model for studying the environmental impacts associated with the direct recycling for closed-loop production of lithium ion battery relative to the conventional open-loop battery manufacturing. A 66 kWh NMC-graphite battery pack is analyzed using directly recycled NMC and graphite for the closed-loop manufacturing. The results show that the closed-loop manufacturing via direct recycling can reduce environmental impacts by up to 54% over the conventional open-loop manufacturing of lithium ion battery for electric vehicles. 

Abstract The auxin-inducible degradation system has been widely adopted in the Caenorhabditis elegans research community for its ability to empirically control the spatiotemporal expression of target proteins. This system can efficiently degrade auxin-inducible degron (AID)-tagged proteins via the expression of a ligand-activatable AtTIR1 protein derived from A. thaliana that adapts target proteins to the endogenous C. elegans proteasome. While broad expression of AtTIR1 using strong, ubiquitous promoters can lead to rapid degradation of AID-tagged proteins, cell type-specific expression of AtTIR1 using spatially restricted promoters often results in less efficient target protein degradation. To circumvent this limitation, we have developed an FLP/FRT3-based system that functions to reanimate a dormant, high-powered promoter that can drive sufficient AtTIR1 expression in a cell type-specific manner. We benchmark the utility of this system by generating a number of tissue-specific FLP-ON::TIR1 drivers to reveal genetically separable cell type-specific phenotypes for several target proteins. We also demonstrate that the FLP-ON::TIR1 system is compatible with enhanced degron epitopes. Finally, we provide an expandable toolkit utilizing the basic FLP-ON::TIR1 system that can be adapted to drive optimized AtTIR1 expression in any tissue or cell type of interest. 

The structural and functional complexity of multicellular biological systems, such as the brain, are beyond the reach of human design or assembly capabilities. Cells in living organisms may be recruited to construct synthetic materials or structures if treated as anatomically defined compartments for specific chemistry, harnessing biology for the assembly of complex functional structures. By integrating engineered-enzyme targeting and polymer chemistry, we genetically instructed specific living neurons to guide chemical synthesis of electrically functional (conductive or insulating) polymers at the plasma membrane. Electrophysiological and behavioral analyses confirmed that rationally designed, genetically targeted assembly of functional polymers not only preserved neuronal viability but also achieved remodeling of membrane properties and modulated cell type–specific behaviors in freely moving animals. This approach may enable the creation of diverse, complex, and functional structures and materials within living systems.