Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are prevalent in electric vehicles (EV). EV sales are exponentially increasing and so is the LIB waste we produce. Current LIB waste recycling methods cannot recover graphite and other key elements. Dielectrophoresis (DEP)—an electrokinetic particle manipulation technique—allows for environmentally friendly direct recycling of each LIBs. DEP can separate particles based on differences in composition, size, and shape. Black mass, an intermediate product during LIB recycling, contains tiny graphite and lithium metal oxide (LMO) particles, which can be separated using DEP; this will not only recover the valuable graphite but will also increase recovery efficiencies other materials in subsequent steps. DEP can therefore be used as an intermediate step in LIB recycling.

Georg Pesch is Professor for Particle Technology and Sustainable Engineering at TU Wien. His research focuses on electrokinetic methods for the handling and separation of particles for green and circular technologies. He obtained his PhD in Production Engineering from University of Bremen in 2018 and was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Delft University of Technology. After being a group leader in University of Bremen, he became a lecturer at University College Dublin from in 2022 and Professor at TU Wien in 2025. He was a member of MAPEX from 2018 to 2022.