Abstract
Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) play a crucial role in the functioning of electric vehicles, portable gadgets, and grid storage systems. One of the primary obstacles presented by the growing demand for LIBs is the scarcity of raw materials required for their production. One economical strategy involves the use of graphite recovered from spent zinc-carbon (Zn-C) batteries as the negative electrode material. Recycling not only solves the environmental issues related to disposal of spent Zn-C batteries, but also leads to attaining inexpensive raw materials, value-adding the waste materials, and ultimately creating circular material utilization. In this work, a facile and applicable recycling procedure is proposed as the combination chemical and heat treatment of the recovered graphite. Firstly, the graphite is chemically treated with different concentrations (0.1, 1.0, and 10.0 M) of KOH under different temperatures (30, 60, and 90 ˚C). Then, the resulting graphite is neutralized and heated at different temperatures (700, 800, and 900 ˚C) under N2 or H2/N2 atmosphere. After microstructural characterizations of X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Near Edge X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure spectroscopy (NEXAFS), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the best graphite samples in terms of crystallinity and purity are chosen for electrode preparation. The composite graphite electrodes are composed of the treated graphite, carbon black, and sodium alginate. Note that sodium alginate is a bio-based binder and can be dissolved in water, making the preparation process towards green direction. Li-ion battery half-cells containing the graphite electrodes, Li metal, and a standard electrolyte of 1 M LiPF6 in 1:1 v/v EC:DMC are subject to electrochemical characterizations, e.g. galvanostatic cycling, cyclic voltammetry (CV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) so as to investigate the battery performance and efficiency. The battery cells with the best-conditioned graphite are capable of delivering 300 mAh·g-1 at 0.1C for more than 100 cycles. Accordingly, this encourages a feasible recycling procedure of the waste materials for the upcoming battery industries in the foreseeable future.
Published Version
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