Waste-loofah-derived carbon micro/nanoparticles for lithium ion battery anode

Abstract

It is very important to recycle the waste biomass resources for the environment protection and the circular economy. For this purpose, the waste old loofah was carbonized at 800°C for 1 h in the inert nitrogen gas (N2) atmosphere for lithium ion battery anode. The resultant waste-loofah-derived carbon was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption and desorption, galvanostatic charge/discharge, cyclic voltammetry and alternating current impedance. The results suggested that the waste-loofah-derived carbon powders consisted of many concomitant microparticles and nanoparticles with a specific surface area of about 492 m2/g. Furthermore, the waste-loofah-derived carbon anode also delivered high electrochemical lithium (Li) storage activity. For example, the initial specific discharge capacity was about 697 mAh/g, and the reversible discharge capacity was about 187 mAh/g at 1000 mA/g for 500 cycles and still about 98 mAh/g even at 3000 mA/g for 500 cycles, exhibiting good cycling stability. High surface area and structural defects may jointly contribute to high electrochemical performances.

The Recovery of the Waste Cigarette Butts for N-Doped Carbon Anode in Lithium Ion Battery

“…Obviously, the oxidation peak corresponded to Li + deinsertion from N-doped WCBC anode, while the reduction peak at 0 V corresponded to Li + insertion into N-doped WCBC anode, and another reduction peak at 0.7 V was primarily attributed to the formation of SEI film (Wang et al, 2015;Mullaivananathan et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2017). Subsequently, the reduction peak at about 0.7 V disappeared, and CV curve at the 2nd cycle almost overlapped with that at the 3rd cycle, indicating high reversibility of N-doped WCBC anode (Hou et al, 2018).…”

“…There existed five knee points at about 0.7, 2.7, 4.2, 5.6, and 7.3 nm in the pore size distribution curve, again indicating the co-existence of the micropores and the mesopores within N-doped WCBC powders (Hou et al, 2018). Furthermore, the surface area was calculated to be about 1,285 m 2 •g −1 according to Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) equation at the range of P/P 0 = 0.05-0.23, higher than that of undoped carbon powders (Hou et al, 2018). No doubt, high specific surface area and multi-scaled pores can enlarge the electrode/electrolyte interface and facilitate the transport of Li + (Liu et al, 2016a;Zhang et al, 2017).…”

“…The pore size distribution plots were recorded from the desorption branch of the isotherms based on Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) model, as shown in Figure 4B. There existed five knee points at about 0.7, 2.7, 4.2, 5.6, and 7.3 nm in the pore size distribution curve, again indicating the co-existence of the micropores and the mesopores within N-doped WCBC powders (Hou et al, 2018). Furthermore, the surface area was calculated to be about 1,285 m 2 •g −1 according to Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) equation at the range of P/P 0 = 0.05-0.23, higher than that of undoped carbon powders (Hou et al, 2018).…”

“…Secondly, N-doped WCBC anode and LiCoO 2 cathode can be obtained by coating the electrode slurries onto Cu foil and Fe foil, respectively, and vacuum dried at 60 • C for 12 h. The loading densities of N-doped WCBC and LiCoO 2 were about 1.1 and about 2.8 mg•cm −2 , respectively. CR2032 coin cell was assembled in an argon-filled glove box (Mikrouna Super 1220/750/900), in which N-doped WCBC anode was coupled with the counter electrodes of Li foil and LiCoO 2 cathode in half and full cell, respectively, and the electrolyte was 1 M LiPF 6 in ethylene carbonate and diethyl carbonate (1:1 in volume), and the commercial porous Celgard 2400 film was the separator (Hou et al, 2018). The coin cell was evaluated by galvanostatic charge/discharge on a battery testing system (Neware CT-3008W, China) at 25, 1,000, and 2,000 mA•g −1 .…”

Editorial

“…In a new contribution, Hou et al show that waste loofah can be carbonized via a facile pyrolysis in the inert atmosphere and converted to carbon powder with nearly 500 m 2 /g specific surface area. 6 This new waste loofah-derived carbon appears to be a very promising material for lithium ion battery anode application due to its high electrochemical lithium-storage activity, reversible discharge capacity and good cycling stability. It is hypothesized that a high surface area and structural defects induced by residual oxygencontaining groups are responsible for the surprisingly good electrochemical performance of this carbon.…”