five v replied: "You're right that Li-Ion cells are not to be played with. Part of the battery pack that they are contained in is designed to distribute charge voltage evenly and to detect and protect against improper charging. Trying to charge the cells without this protection is like replacing your household fuses with coins or metal foil. For disposal, it'll depend on your local facilities. Some useful info here:"

Greed replied: "Half cell reaction theory and the enthalpy lookup tables should tell you everything you need to know."

McDSpooky replied: "Lithium ion batteries (sometimes abbreviated Li-Ion) are a type of rechargeable battery commonly used in consumer electronics. They are currently one of the most popular types of battery, with one of the best energy-to-weight ratios, no memory effect and a slow loss of charge when not in use. They can be dangerous if mistreated, however, and unless care is taken they may have a shorter lifespan compared to other battery types. A more advanced lithium-ion battery design is the lithium polymer cell. Advantages and disadvantages Advantages Li batteries are lighter than equivalents in other chemistries often much lighter. This is because lithium ions have an extremely high charge density the highest of all known naturally occurring ions. Li ions are small and mobile, but more readily stored than hydrogen. Thus a battery based on lithium is smaller than one with hydrogen elements, such as nickel metal hydride, and with fewer volatile gases. The ions need fewer storage intermediaries, so more battery weight is usable as charge, instead of overhead. Li-ion batteries do not suffer from the memory effect. They also have a low self-discharge rate of approximately 5% per month, compared with over 30% per month and 20% per month in nickel metal hydride batteries and nickel cadmium batteries, respectively. Disadvantages A unique drawback of the Li-ion battery is that its life span is dependent upon aging from time of manufacturing (shelf life) regardless of whether it was charged, and not just on the number of charge/discharge cycles. This drawback is not widely publicized. At a 100% charge level, a typical Li-ion laptop battery that's full most of the time at 25 degrees Celsius, will irreversibly lose approximately 20% capacity per year. This capacity loss begins from the time it was manufactured, and occurs even when the battery is unused. Different storage temperatures produce different loss results: 6% loss at 0 C, 20% at 25 C, and 35% at 40 C. When stored at 40% charge level, these figures are reduced to 2%, 4%, 15% at 0, 25 and 40 degrees Celsius respectively. If the battery is used and fully depleted to 0%, this is called a "deep discharge" cycle, and this decreases its capacity. Approximately 100 deep discharge cycles leave the battery with about 75% to 85% capacity. When used in laptop computers or cellular phones, this rate of deterioration means that after three to five years the battery will have capacities that are too low to be usable. Li-ion batteries are not as durable as nickel metal hydride or nickel-cadmium designs and can be extremely dangerous if mistreated. They are usually more expensive. For more info including a chemical reaction see:"