posted on 2023-12-18, 20:06authored byMaryam Kazemi, Kerli Liivand, Mirko Prato, Petr Vacek, John Walmsley, Silvia Dante, Giorgio Divitini, Ivar Kruusenberg
The rapidly growing Li-ion battery (LIB) industry is
struggling
to find feasible methods to recycle end-of-life batteries as well
as identify new applications for the recycled materials. The current
study demonstrates a promising strategy to enhance the value of the
LIB waste anode and cathode components as a raw material for electrocatalyst
production. Recovered graphite and cobalt from spent LIBs (SLIBs)
are used to obtain active, low cost, and stable nonprecious metal-based
electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). SLIB graphite
has been turned into graphite oxide which is thereafter codoped with
Co and nitrogen to prepare an active electrocatalyst toward ORR with
the onset potential of 0.98 V (vs RHE) in alkaline media. Extensive
characterization is carried out on the compound, identifying the key
factor driving the performance in the synergistic combination of cobalt
and nitrogen. The material was successfully benchmarked against a
commercial 19.8% platinum catalyst, showing comparable performance
and a superior tolerance to methanol. The demonstrated ability to
recycle LIBs into industrially relevant electrocatalysts can lead
the way to a fully sustainable lifecycle for energy-storage solutions.