Novel Sepiolite‐Based Materials for Lithium‐ and Sodium‐Ion Storage

Abstract

Natural sepiolite is widely used as an inorganic template to prepare functional nanomaterials. Herein, raw sepiolite and ultrafine TiO2 nanocrystals–decorated sepiolite nanofibers are fabricated by a hydrothermal reaction followed by an annealing process. For Li‐storage, the TiO2/sepiolite composites exhibit higher specific capacity and a longer lifespan than raw sepiolite. At a current density of 0.3 A g−1, the optimized TiO2/sepiolite composites deliver a discharge capacity of 1811 and 618 mAh g−1 at 1st and 300th cycle, respectively. In addition, the composites show a very stable specific capacity of 100 mAh g−1 at a current density of 0.1 A g−1 for Na‐storage up to 100 cycles.

Recent developments in natural mineral-based separators for lithium-ion batteries

“… 57 Sepiolite is widely used in the fields of adsorption, 58 catalysis 59 and so on. Nowadays, because of the fibrous micromorphology, high porosity and specific surface area, excellent mechanical and thermal stability of sepiolite, its application in the field of energy storage has attracted wide attention, such as battery electrode materials 60 and separators. 40 …”

Preparation of multi-functional sepiolite-based foam concrete and its adsorption and thermal insulation properties

“…Sepiolite is an abundant, natural and nontoxic phyllosilicate with a compositional formula of Mg 8 Si 12 O 30 (OH 2 ) 4 •8H 2 O [1,2]. The structure of sepiolite contains extended silicon-oxygen sheets, making it a layered silicate mineral.…”

“…As one of the non-swelling and lightweight porous clays, sepiolite possesses a large specific surface area and a fiber-like morphology. The high surface area and unique porous structure of sepiolite account for its impressive adsorption capacity and colloidal properties [4][5][6]. Compared with the current mainstream adsorbents, sepiolite has the advantages of relatively low price and wide sources.…”

Study of the adsorption mechanisms of NH3, H2S and SO2 on sepiolite using molecular dynamics simulations

“…As a natural mineral, sepiolite has many industrial applications related specifically to its physical properties (Zheng et al , 2010; Deng et al , 2019; Jiang et al , 2020, 2021; Hamid et al , 2021). Due to their inherently large surface areas (~320 m 2 g –1 ) and great adsorption capacities, sepiolite-based materials have shown great potential for applications in the fields of environmental clean-up and protection (Alcântara et al , 2012; Fayazi et al , 2019; Bashir et al , 2020).…”