Disclosed herein are embodiments of systems and methods for recycling used solid feedstocks containing lithium powders for use in lithium-ion batteries. The used solid feedstocks may be Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC) materials. In some embodiments, the used solid feedstock can undergo a microwave plasma process to produce a newly usable, lithium supplemented solid precursor with augmented chemistries and physical properties.

A method for fast laser heating and cooling for nano/micro diamond is provided. The method includes performing laser irradiation and thermal dissipation on a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sample. The rGO sample is dispersed on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) copper grids and nanodiamonds containing nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are dispersed on the rGO sample. The rGO sample is placed in a vacuum chamber and NV spins are polarized and read out by green laser. Further, the spin states of NV spins are manipulated by microwave. The polarizing and reading out are conducted at room temperature, while the manipulating spin states is conducted at high temperatures. The heating and cooling rates are significantly improved using reduced graphene oxide as the laser absorber and heat drain, enabling coherent quantum operation at temperatures up to 1400 Kelvin, surpassing the Curie temperatures of all known magnetic materials.