Honeycomb-shaped carbon particles prepared from bicycle waste tires for anodes in lithium ion batteries

Abstract

Honeycomb-shaped carbon particles were successfully prepared via a HCl assisted air atmosphere calcination method using bicycle waste tires as the starting materials. The products calcined at 350 °C, 400 °C and 450 °C were labeled as, respectively, sample a, b and c. As presented by the SEM images, aggregates, irregular particles and individual smaller particles were, respectively, produced in sample a, b and c. In all produced samples, the existence of amorphous carbon and calcium salt as well as silicates was strongly testified by XRD and XPS patterns. To get rid of the inorganic salts, sample b was further treated by hydrochloric acid generating sample b1. Interestingly, a large number of honeycomb-shaped particles were prepared in sample b1. The starting discharge capacity values of sample a, b, c and b1, measured by the charge-discharge tests, were about 163, 306, 233 and 533 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1, respectively. Particularly, the discharge capacity at 1000 mA g−1 of sample b1 after 10 cycles was 111 mAh g−1, 4.6 times greater than that of the commercial graphite (24 mAh g−1). The higher content of carbon, the special porous structure, the higher degree of graphitization and the smaller value of Rct as well as the higher value of DLi were considered as the main reasons for sample b1 to exhibit the best electrochemical behavior among all produced samples. A novel and low-cost way for producing carbon particles was presented in the current work, which was also very helpful to the cyclic utilization of bicycle waste tires.