Novel Way to Turn Spent Li-Ion Battery Graphite into Valuable and Active Catalyst for Electrochemical Oxygen Reduction

摘要

Employing Li-ion batteries (LIBs) in portable electronics has become a necessity in the modern world but, due to the short application time for any given battery (1-3 years), the quantity of spent LIBs (SLIBs) waste is becoming substantial. As LIBs contain different valuable materials (the cathode layer holds Li, Co, Ni, Mn, Al and the anode layer graphite and Cu), the recycling of SLIBs is economically and environmentally beneficial. Additionally, the potential resource strain, as well of the geographical limitations found in the mining/production of the raw materials, will make recycling crucial for sustainable production of LIBs. However, current SLIBs recycling strategies has been focused on cathode materials alone while largely overlooking the anode of the battery. In turn, anode recycling has so far concentrated mostly on the metal in the electrode and only very recently has the focus shifted towards the recycling of graphite powders.