Tailored Recovery of Carbons from Waste Tires for Enhanced Performance as Anodes in Lithium-ion Batteries

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2014 · RSC Advances

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/C4RA03888F· OSTI ID:1154801

Naskar, Amit K ^[1]; Bi, ^[1]; Saha, Dipendu ^[1]; Chi, Miaofang ^[1]; Bridges, Craig A ^[1]; Paranthaman, Mariappan Parans ^[1]

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1. ORNL

Morphologically tailored pyrolysis-recovered carbon black is utilized in lithium-ion batteries as a potential solution for adding value to waste tire-rubber-derived materials. Micronized tire rubber was digested in a hot oleum bath to yield a sulfonated rubber slurry that was then filtered, washed, and compressed into a solid cake. Carbon was recovered from the modified rubber cake by pyrolysis in a nitrogen atmosphere. The chemical pretreatment of rubber produced a carbon monolith with higher yield than that from the control (a fluffy tire-rubber-derived carbon black). The carbon monolith showed a very small volume fraction of pores of widths 3 4 nm, reduced specific surface area, and an ordered assembly of graphitic domains. Electrochemical studies on the recovered-carbon-based anode revealed an improved Li-ion battery performance with higher reversible capacity than that of commercial carbon materials. Anodes made with a sulfonated tire-rubber-derived carbon and a control tire-rubber-derived carbon, respectively, exhibited an initial coulombic efficiency of 80% and 45%, respectively. The reversible capacity of the cell with the sulfonated carbon as anode was 400 mAh/g after 100 cycles, with nearly 100% coulombic efficiency. Our success in producing higher performance carbon material from waste tire rubber for potential use in energy storage applications adds a new avenue to tire rubber recycling.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)
• Sponsoring Organization: ORNL Program Development
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1154801
• Journal Information: RSC Advances, Journal Name: RSC Advances Journal Issue: 72 Vol. 4; ISSN 2046-2069
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English