Diatoms Biomass as a Joint Source of Biosilica and Carbon for Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes

Abstract

The biomass of one type cultivated diatoms (Pseudostaurosira trainorii), being a source of 3D-stuctured biosilica and organic matter—the source of carbon, was thermally processed to become an electroactive material in a potential range adequate to become an anode in lithium ion batteries. Carbonized material was characterized by means of selected solid-state physics techniques (XRD, Raman, TGA). It was shown that the pyrolysis temperature (600 °C, 800 °C, 1000 °C) affected structural and electrochemical properties of the electrode material. Biomass carbonized at 600 °C exhibited the best electrochemical properties reaching a specific discharge capacity of 460 mAh g−1 for the 70th cycle. Such a value indicates the possibility of usage of biosilica as an electrode material in energy storage applications.

Metabolically Doping of 3D Diatomaceous Biosilica with Titanium

“…The obtained forms are similar to the forms of calcium carbonates obtained in the study of El-Naas et al [ 73 ]. Additionally, in our previous work, the presence of calcium carbonates in the biomass of Pseudostaurosira trainorii diatoms was confirmed by XRD, TG and FTIR analysis [ 74 ]. The significant carbon content in the sample indicates the presence of the organic part of the diatom cell.…”

“…All the samples presented a significant mass loss (from 3% for N_w to 22% for N_g) in the range from about 400 °C to about 700 °C, corresponding to strong exothermic peaks in the DSC curves. In fact, this loss may be due to the decomposition of organic matter of diatom biomass [ 74 ] containing molecules such as lipids and proteins [ 100 , 101 ]. In addition, for materials doped with titanium, this range coincides with the temperature range (400–480 °C), corresponding to the amorphous transformation of TiO 2 into anatase form [ 102 ].…”

Cultured Diatoms Suitable for the Advanced Anode of Lithium Ion Batteries

“…The specific capacity is as high as 1200 mA h g –1 after 5 cycles and remains at 924 mA h g –1 after 200 cycles with a Coulombic efficiency of almost 100%, which is obviously superior to that of the DBS anode (Figure S3) and at a relatively high level in comparison with reported synthetic and biomass-based SiO 2 anodes (Table S1). ,,,,,− The microstructure and morphologies of the C@DBS anode after cycling were studied by ex situ SEM. As revealed in Figure S4, the porous structure of C@DBS was well preserved due to the protection from the carbonaceous component distributed around silica.…”

Nanostructured diatom earth SiO2 negative electrodes with superior electrochemical performance for lithium ion batteries

“…In contrast to the vast number of examples where DE is used as a template material, only a few reports have focused on the direct implementation of DE silica into negative electrodes for LIBs. [27][28][29][30] Experimental results have shown that oval-shaped diatoms with an average diameter of 5 mm embedded in a carbonaceous matrix can reach discharge capacities of 460 mA h g À1 aer 70 cycles at 40 mA g À1 . 30 A different work on ball-milled frustules with a mean particle size of 3 mm, reported a capacity of 679 mA h g À1 aer 50 cycles displayed by carbon coated sea-hauled diatoms.…”