Marginally lower cost over 500 possible cycles under ideal conditions… this does not take into account other pollutants it may cause or the human element. Still, very positive as a total, as this is a resource a way hitherto untapped (unless you count risky social media innovatives who almost burn up their homes making lithium batteries from vapes and whatnot).

The cost will come down further with scale. The great thing about that is that dead lithium batteries will have value, so people will be much less inclined to throw them in the trash or dump them elsewhere

What's more, the researchers say the method is much more affordable than other battery-based lithium-harvesting techniques, costing about US$12.70 per kilogram of lithium recovered.

Indeed, according to Daily Metal Prices, lithium costs $13.17 per kilo on the open market as of the time of writing. So this method actually comes out cheaper than just buying the stuff.

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