Processing Rusty Metals into Versatile Prussian Blue for Sustainable Energy Storage

Jian Peng,Weihong Lai,Shixue Dou,Jianli Wang,Wang Zhang,Lin Li,Jinsong Wang,Zhenxiang Cheng,Qiuran Yang,Hanwen Liu,Jiazhao Wang,Binwei Zhang,Lizhen Wang,Xiaoning Li,Yumeng Du,Shulei Chou,Shiwen Wang,Huakun Liu

doi:10.1002/aenm.202102356

Abstract

AbstractTo reach a closed‐loop material system and meet the urgent requirement of sustainable energy storage technologies, it is essential to incorporate efficient waste management into designing new energy storage materials. Here, a “two birds with one stone” strategy to transform rusty iron products into Prussian blue as high‐performance cathode materials, and recover the rusty iron products to their original status, is reported. Owing to the high crystalline and Na+ content, the rusty iron derived Prussian blue shows a high specific capacity of 145 mAh g−1 and excellent cycling stability over 3500 cycles. Through the in situ X‐ray diffraction and in situ Raman spectra, it is found that the impressive ion storage capability and stability are strongly related to the suppressed structure distortion during the charge/discharge process. The ion migration mechanism and the possibility to serve as a universal host for other kinds of ions are further illuminated by density functional theory calculations. This work provides a new strategy for recycling wasted materials into high value‐added materials for sustainable battery systems, and is adaptable in the nanomedicine, catalysis, sensors, and gas storage applications.

Highlights

Battery technologies, with the most famous members of lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), have revolutionized the industries and our lifestyles over the past century.[1]
The rust is dissolved by the acid, forming ferrous or ferric ions, which are substantially utilized for preparing rusty-derived Prussian blue (R-PB)
This treatment put forward a new strategy of low-cost, strong feasibility and sustainability for the industrialized large-scale energy storage system, compared to conventional high-temperature sintering method for battery electrodes

Summary

Introduction

With the most famous members of lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), have revolutionized the industries and our lifestyles over the past century.[1]. As a proof-of-concept, we demonstrate a facile “two birds with one stone” method to process the rusty iron into Prussian blue cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), while recovering the wasted iron products to their original status.

Results

Conclusion