A large amount of spent lithium batteries, especially
lithium iron
phosphate (LiFePO4), is discarded due to their limited
lifespan and poses a great threat to the environment. At the same
time, the potential application of Li4SiO4, an
efficient high-temperature CO2 sorbent, is largely limited
by the high cost of lithium resources. Thus, the preparation of Li4SiO4 from spent LiFePO4 batteries has
great potential for achieving waste recycling and reducing CO2 capture costs. However, the process of recycling spent LiFePO4 batteries to synthesize Li4SiO4 sorbents
still needs to be well investigated. This work proposes to simplify
the preparation scheme by combing precipitation, Na doping, and synthesis
processes and further optimizing the key variables of pH, Na2CO3 ratio, and heating rate. An optimal condition is determined
to be pH = 9, Na2CO3 ratio = 11 wt %, and heating
rate = 5 °C/min, and the sorbent prepared shows a superior stable
CO2 capacity of 0.24 g/g in 80 adsorption/desorption cycles.
The work develops an effective Li4SiO4 preparation
scheme from spent LiFePO4 batteries with largely enhanced
CO2 adsorption performance and reduced cost and could achieve
a win–win situation in waste recycling and CO2 mitigation.