Abstract
Owing to technological advancements and the ever-increasing population, the search for renewable energy resources has increased. One such attempt at finding effective renewable energy is recycling of lithium-ion batteries and using the recycled material as an electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) step in water splitting reactions. In electrocatalysis, the OER plays a crucial role and several electrocatalysts have been investigated to improve the efficiency of O2 gas evolution. Present research involves the use of citric acid coupled with lemon peel extracts for efficient recovery of lithium cobaltate from waste lithium-ion batteries and subsequent use of the recovered cathode material for OER in water splitting. Optimum recovery was achieved at 90 °C within 3 h of treatment with 1.5 M citric acid and 1.5% extract volume. The consequent electrode materials were calcined at 600, 700 and 800 °C and compared to the untreated waste material calcined at 600 °C for OER activity. The treated material recovered and calcined at 600 °C was the best among all of the samples for OER activity. Its average particle size was estimated to be within the 20–100 nm range and required a low overpotential of 0.55 V vs. RHE for the current density to reach 10 mA/cm2 with a Tafel value of 128 mV/dec.
Highlights
The present study reports, for the first time, the use of environmentally friendly lemon peel extract and citric acid for the recovery of Li and Co from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to their superior leaching performance, low toxic emissions, easy natural degradation, and potentially low price
For a better insight of the Oxygen evolution reactions (OER) activities X-ray Photoelectron spectroscopy was performed using the Omicron system (Al Kα 1486.7 eV X-ray source operated at 15 KeV) at constant analyzer energy (CAE) = 100 eV for survey scans and 20 eV for detailed scans
From waste lithium-ion batteries was evaluated by repeating the experiments three times under same conditions, and their average was taken
Summary
With the advancements in technology and the growing population, continuously degrading the environment and increasing the demand of energy have become mankind’s major concerns. The use of renewable sources for energy conversion has been deemed an inspiring solution to reduce the dependance on the unsustainable exploitation of fossil fuels, which is a major cause of growing pollution in the environment. Some of the major renewable energy resources include fuel cells and metal air batteries. Oxygen evolution reactions (OER) are the fundamental reactions for the above-mentioned renewable
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