Conventional cathodes of Li-ion batteries mainly operate through an insertion-extraction process involving transition metal redox. These cathodes will not be able to meet the increasing requirements until lithium-rich layered oxides emerge with beyond-capacity performance. Nevertheless, in-depth understanding of the evolution of crystal and excess capacity delivered by Li-rich layered oxides is insufficient. Herein, various in situ technologies such as X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy are employed for a typical material Li Ni Mn O , directly visualizing O O (peroxo oxygen dimers) bonding mostly along the c-axis and demonstrating the reversible O /O redox process. Additionally, the formation of the peroxo OO bond is calculated via density functional theory, and the corresponding OO bond length of ≈1.3 Å matches well with the in situ Raman results. These findings enrich the oxygen chemistry in layered oxides and open opportunities to design high-performance positive electrodes for lithium-ion batteries.

Solid-state lithium batteries are widely considered as next-generation lithiumion battery technology due to the potential advantages in safety and performance. Among the various solid electrolyte materials, Li-garnet electrolytes are promising due to their high ionic conductivity and good chemical and electrochemical stabilities. However, the high electrode/electrolyte interfacial impedance is one of the major challenges. Moreover, short circuiting caused by lithium dendrite formation is reported when using Li-garnet electrolytes. Here, it is demonstrated that Li-garnet electrolytes wet well with lithium metal by removing the intrinsic impurity layer on the surface of the lithium metal. The Li/garnet interfacial impedance is determined to be 6.95 Ω cm 2 at room temperature. Lithium symmetric cells based on the Li-garnet electrolytes are cycled at room temperature for 950 h and current density as high as 13.3 mA cm −2 without showing signs of short circuiting. Experimental and computational results reveal that it is the surface oxide layer on the lithium metal together with the garnet surface that majorly determines the Li/garnet interfacial property. These findings suggest that removing the superficial impurity layer on the lithium metal can enhance the wettability, which may impact the manufacturing process of future high energy density garnet-based solid-state lithium batteries. are gratefully acknowledged for assisting with relevant experimental analysis. Center for High Performance Computing of SJTU is gratefully acknowledged for providing computational facilities for all the simulations. Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no conflict of interest.

Alongside the steep reductions needed in fossil fuel emissions, natural climate solutions (NCS) represent readily deployable options that can contribute to Canada’s goals for emission reductions. We estimate the mitigation potential of 24 NCS related to the protection, management, and restoration of natural systems that can also deliver numerous co-benefits, such as enhanced soil productivity, clean air and water, and biodiversity conservation. NCS can provide up to 78.2 (41.0 to 115.1) Tg CO2e/year (95% CI) of mitigation annually in 2030 and 394.4 (173.2 to 612.4) Tg CO2e cumulatively between 2021 and 2030, with 34% available at ≤CAD 50/Mg CO2e. Avoided conversion of grassland, avoided peatland disturbance, cover crops, and improved forest management offer the largest mitigation opportunities. The mitigation identified here represents an important potential contribution to the Paris Agreement, such that NCS combined with existing mitigation plans could help Canada to meet or exceed its climate goals.

Increased generation of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has driven the exploration of new methods for reusing and/or recycling LiCoO2 cathode materials. Herein, an electrochemical relithiation method was proposed to directly regenerate LiCoO2 cathode materials using the waste Li x CoO2 electrode as a base. It was shown that Li+ was successfully inserted into the waste Li x CoO2 electrode, and this relithiation process became faster with either a higher Li2SO4 concentration or a higher cathodic current density. The XRD analysis confirmed that the peak positions of the relithiation products were consistently close to those of a standard LiCoO2 material. The crystal structure of the relithiation products was restored with a post-annealing process. The activation energy for electrochemical relithiation (E a) was estimated at 22 kJ mol–1, and the constant of equilibrium constant k 0 was determined as 1.35 × 10–6 cm s–1. The relithiation process was controlled by the charge transfer process when the Li2SO4 concentration was high (e.g., 1, 0.8, and 0.5M), and a lower concentration at 0.01–0.3 M led to a diffusion control pattern. The electrode made of the regenerated LiCoO2 materials had a charge capacity of 136 mAh g–1, close to that of the commercial LiCoO2 electrode (140 mAh g–1). A potential mechanism of electrochemical relithiation was proposed involving lithium defects, relithiation, and crystal regeneration.

Over the past decades, China has been suffering from negative environmental impacts from distempered e-waste recycling activities. After a decade of effort, disassembly and raw materials recycling of environmentally friendly e-waste have been realized in specialized companies, in China, and law enforcement for illegal activities of e-waste recycling has also been made more and more strict. So up to now, the e-waste recycling in China should be developed toward more depth and refinement to promote industrial production of e-waste resource recovery. Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs), which are the most complex, hazardous, and valuable components of e-waste, are selected as one typical example in this article that reviews the status of related regulations and technologies of WPCBs recycling, then optimizes, and integrates the proper approaches in existence, while the bottlenecks in the WPCBs recycling system are analyzed, and some preliminary experiments of pinch technologies are also conducted. Finally, in order to provide directional guidance for future development of WPCBs recycling, some key points in the WPCBs recycling system are proposed to point towards a future trend in the e-waste recycling industry.

The representative waste television recycling process was chosen as the object of this study, including manual dismantling and mechanical separation of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and cathode ray tubes (CRTs) in two independent workshops. During these recycling processes, fine particulate matter and heavy metals will be released into the air to impact the environment and the health of the workers. The mass concentrations of PM2.5 (particles below 2.5 μm diameter) in mechanical and dismantling workshops ranged from 252.6 to 290.8 μg/m(3) and from 112.7 to 169.4 μg/m(3), respectively. The average concentration of PM2.5 around the workshop was 98.5 μg/m(3). Meanwhile, the contents of PM10 (particles below 10 μm diameter) were all below the risk threshold, except that (360.4 μg/m(3)) monitored in the mechanical workshop. In two workshops, Pb (20.46 and 6.935 mg/g) was the most enriched metal in the PM2.5 samples, while in PM10, the concentration of Cu (27.76 and 31.80 mg/g) was the largest. The concentration of Cd was the least in both PM10 and PM2.5. Health risk assessment showed that the total hazard indexes for non-carcinogenic metal in PM2.5 monitored in mechanical and dismantling workshops and in the southeast of the workshops were 7.61, 3.01, and 1.57, respectively, all above the safety level. Furthermore, Pb (7.28 and 3.01) might possibly have a non-carcinogenic effect on the workers in two workshops, and the sequence of the hazard quotient (HQ) through the three exposure ways was ingestion > dermal contact > inhalation. The lifetime cancer risk of four targeted metals was Cr > Ni > Pb > Cd, which could be proven in all monitoring samples. This study aims to provide a large amount of valid data for the State Environmental Protection Department to develop relevant environmental standards and for companies to improve the waste television recycling system to be more efficiently and environmentally friendly.

Potassium-ion batteries (KIBs) have great potential for applications in large-scale energy storage devices. However, the larger radius of K+ leads to sluggish kinetics and inferior cycling performance, severely restricting its practical applicability. Herein, we propose a rational strategy involving a Prussian blue analogue-derived graphitized carbon anode with fast and durable potassium storage capability, which is constructed by encapsulating cobalt nanoparticles in nitrogen-doped graphitized carbon (Co-NC). Both experimental and theoretical results show that N-doping effectively promotes the uniform dispersion of cobalt nanoparticles in the carbon matrix through Co–N bonds. Moreover, the cobalt nanoparticles and strong Co–N bonds synergistically form a three-dimensional conductive network, increase the number of adsorption sites, and reduce the diffusion energy barrier, thereby facilitating the adsorption and the diffusion kinetics. These multiple effects lead to enhanced reversible capacities of 305 and 208.6 mAh g−1 after 100 and 300 cycles at 0.05 and 0.1 A g−1, respectively, demonstrating the applicability of the Co-NC anode for KIBs.

No abstract