Simple and Eco‐Friendly Fabrication of Electrode Materials and Their Performance in High‐Voltage Lithium‐Ion Batteries

Abstract

The huge consumption of rechargeable Li‐ion batteries (LIBs) make it necessary to recover and reuse the different components of spent batteries, thus favoring sustainable development. Graphite is a critical material in the manufacture of the current LIBs so recycling it should be prioritized in the management of spent batteries. In this work, graphite is manually recovered from spent batteries used in smartphones. The impurities from the different components of the batteries are drastically reduced by simple leaching with HCl. This treatment significantly improves the delivered specific capacity, with average values of 300 and 390 mAh g−1 without and with leaching, respectively. To test recycled graphite as an anode material in real cells, it is paired with LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4, the most promising cathode material for high‐voltage batteries. LiCl, produced directly by chlorination of spodumene, is used as the Li source to obtain the spinel sample. The real cell gives satisfactory values for both initial specific capacity (100 mAh g−1) and capacity retention after 100 cycles. These results are comparable to and in some cases even better than those for cells that use commercial graphite and conventional Li sources as primary raw materials. Moreover, the cell shows good performance during the rate capability test; the delivered capacity values decrease smoothly from 73 to 62 mAh g−1 while the rate increases from 0.1 to 1 C.

Epitaxial Regeneration of Spent Graphite Anode Material by an Eco-friendly In-Depth Purification Route

“…Considerable impurities, derived plausibly from the SEI film, binder, and conductive agent, were observed in SG (Figure 3a,e). 30,31,34,36 Moreover, unseparated current collector and cathode compounds introduced in the previous recovery process still existed in SG. After direct acid leaching (Figure 3b,f), the surface of graphite turned out to be cleaner and flatter, indicating the effective removal of the residue on the surface.…”

“…Furthermore, the pyrolytic carbon derived from pitch can form a new carbon layer via regraphitization. Such a structure will effectively repair the cracks and defects on the surface. , To estimate electrolyte decomposition and Li loss for optimal ICE performance in the first cycle, Coat-G with different coating masses were systematically studied. As listed in Table , the half-cell data are summarized to obtain the range of initial discharge capacity and ICE for Coat-G.…”

“…Currently, recycling processes can be divided into three steps: (i) physically crushing LIBs and separating the collectors, cathodes, and anodes; − (ii) extracting valuable metal elements from the electrodes; ,,,− and (iii) purification and regeneration. − The huge challenge is the separation of impurities, such as metals, electrolytes, and binders, from SG. Furthermore, the direct reuse of SG will inevitably shorten the cycling life of the recycled battery due to the cracked structure, which will crucially affect the long-term cycling of LIBs. ,, Thus, impurity removal and structure regeneration are recognized as the critical steps to recover the electrochemical performance of SG.…”

Biomass Porous Carbons Derived from Banana Peel Waste as Sustainable Anodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries

“…So far, graphite has been the reference anode material in commercial LIBs because of its high electrochemical stability, low cost and availability [3,4]. Nevertheless, its limited lithium storage capacity (372 mAh g −1 ), poor rate performance and difficulty in recycling, while only at the research level [5], are not sufficient to meet the high energy demands of applications for the next generation of hybrid and electric vehicles [6].…”

Kinetics analysis of the electro-catalyzed degradation of high potential LiNi0,5Mn1,5O4 active materials

“…Moreover, considering other aspects such as cost, sourcing and eco-development, the LNMO is a very interesting material [7]. Indeed, the synthesis of LNMO is easy and cost effective [8]. Nowadays, a strong effort is made to reduce the cobalt content in the standard lamellar compound LiCoO2 based on Co substitution (Ni, Mn, Al) with the famous NMC or NCA.…”