Simple and Sustainable Preparation of Nonactivated Porous Carbon from Brewing Waste for High‐Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Abstract

The development of renewable energy sources requires the parallel development of sustainable energy storage systems because of its noncontinuous production. Even the most‐used battery on the planet, the lithium‐ion battery, is reaching its technological limit. In light of this, lithium–sulfur batteries have emerged as one of the most promising technologies to address this problem. The use of biomass to produce cathodes for these batteries addresses not only the aforementioned problem, but it also reduces the carbon footprint and gives added value to something normally considered waste. Here, the production, by simple and nonactivating pyrolysis, of a carbon material using the abundant “after‐boiling waste” derived from beer brewing is reported. After adding a high sulfur loading (70 %) to this biowaste‐derived carbon by the “melt diffusion” method, the sulfur–carbon composite is used as an effective cathode in Li–S batteries. The cathode shows excellent performance, reaching high capacity values with long‐term cyclability at high current—847 mAh g−1 at 1 C, 586 mAh g−1 at 2 C, and even 498 mAh g−1 at 5 C after 400 cycles—drastically reducing capacity loss to values approaching 0.01 % per cycle. This work demonstrates the possibility of obtaining low‐cost, highly sustainable cathodic materials for the design of advanced energy storage systems.

Synergistic effect between PPy:PSS copolymers and biomass-derived activated carbons: a simple strategy for designing sustainable high-performance Li–S batteries

“…An activated carbon obtained from pig bones was a pioneer for this application. 27 Later, the carbons obtained from the biomass residues of vegetables and those from agrifood wastes (olive stone, 28 cherry pits, 29 rice husk, 30 coconut shell, 31 pistachio shell, 32 banana peel 33 or brewing waste, 34 among others) have become more relevant. The preparation methods are easier and faster than those of other forms of C. The carbonization and activation processes can be carried out in a single step, which along with the low-cost and ecofriendliness of the raw materials represent a viable alternative as a carbon matrix for sulfur.…”

A Stable High‐Capacity Lithium‐Ion Battery Using a Biomass‐Derived Sulfur‐Carbon Cathode and Lithiated Silicon Anode

“…[ 45 , 46 ] In this respect, outstanding studies have demonstrated that carbon‐based electrodes obtained from the recycle of bio‐waste products may represent a suitable alternative to enable sustainable and, at the same time, high‐performance energy storage devices. [ 47 , 48 , 49 ] Indeed, Li−S batteries relying on cathode materials derived from crab shells, [50] peanut shells, [51] olive stones, [52] rice husks, [53] cherry pits, [54] bamboo, [55] brewing waste, [56] and even jellyfish umbrellas have been proposed as possible alternatives. [57] Taking in mind these achievements, we have explored herein the concept of a full lithium‐ion‐sulfur battery based on sustainable materials according to the most recent worldwide plans of the green economy, in particular within the UE community.…”

Recent Progress in Synthesis and Application of Biomass‐Based Hybrid Electrodes for Rechargeable Batteries

“…[ 22b,95,172,177,222 ] At the same time, in most of the cases, the LIB and Li–S still outperform the emerging SIB and KIB in terms of reversible capacity, rate capability, and capacitance retention (Figure 19b). [ 92,126,137,148 ] The emerging areas of research in biomass derived materials for lithium‐based batteries focus on improving the different aspects of the materials that can lead to enhanced specific capacity and rate capability. The process of carbonization and activation can be used to synthesize porous carbons but different functionalization strategies including doping with heteroatoms or metallic and nonmetallic species or hybridization are required to tune their electrochemical properties.…”

“…Reproduced with permission. [ 137 ] Copyrght 2022, Wiley‐VCH GmbH., SIB (S‐CMT derived from cotton roll). Reproduced with permission.…”