The reuse and recycling of products, leading to the utilization of wastes as key resources in a closed loop, is a great opportunity for the market in terms of added value and reduced environmental impact. In this context, producing carbonaceous anode materials starting from raw materials derived from food waste appears to be a possible approach to enhance the overall sustainability of the energy storage value chain, including Li-ion (LIBs) and Na-ion batteries (NIBs). In this framework, we show the behavior of anodes for LIBs and NIBs prepared with coffee ground-derived hard carbon as active material, combined with green binders such as Na-carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), alginate (Alg), or polyacrylic acid (PAA). In order to evaluate the effect of the various binders on the charge/discharge performance, structural and electrochemical investigations are carried out. The electrochemical characterization reveals that the alginate-based anode, used for NIBs, delivers much enhanced charge/discharge performance and capacity retention. On the other hand, the use of the CMC-based electrode as LIBs anode delivers the best performance in terms of discharge capacity, while the PAA-based electrode shows enhanced cycling stability. As a result, the utilization of anode materials derived from an abundant food waste, in synergy with the use of green binders and formulations, appears to be a viable opportunity for the development of efficient and sustainable Li-ion and Na-ion batteries.

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The effects of a biomass-derived hard carbon matrix and a sustainable cross-linked binder are investigated as electrode components for a silicon-based anode in lithium-ion half-cells, in order to reduce the capacity fade due to volume expansion and shrinkage upon cycling. Ex situ Raman spectroscopy and impedance spectroscopy are used to deeply investigate the structural and interfacial properties of the material within a single cycle and upon cycling. An effective buffering of the volume changes of the composite electrode is evidenced, even at a high Si content up to 30% in the formulation, resulting in the retention of structural and interfacial integrity. As a result, a high capacity performance and a very good rate capability are displayed even at high current densities, with a stable cycling behavior and low polarization effects.

Sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) represent a potential alternative to lithium‐ion batteries in large‐scale energy storage applications. To improve the sustainability of SIBs, the utilization of anode carbonaceous materials produced from biomass and the selection of a bio‐based binder allowing an aqueous electrode processing are fundamental. Herein, corncobs are used as raw material for the preparation of hard carbon and it is also used as cellulose sources for the synthesis of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) binder. The corncob‐derived electrodes deliver a high discharge capacity of around 264 mAhg−1 at 1 C (300 mAg−1), with promising capacity retention (84 % after 100 cycles) and good rate capability. Additionally, this work expands the fundamental insight of the sodium storage behavior of Hard Carbons through an electrochemical approach, suggesting that the reaction mechanism is controlled by capacitive process in the sloping voltage region, while the diffusion‐controlled intercalation is the predominant process in the low‐voltage plateau.