Identification and Mitigation of Generated Solid By-Products during Advanced Electrode Materials Processing

Journal Article · Wed Dec 30 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Environmental Science and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b03610· OSTI ID:1430593

Tsai, Candace S. J. ^[1]; Dysart, Arthur D. ^[2]; Beltz, Jay H. ^[3]; Pol, Vilas G. ^[2]

---

1. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). Birck Nanotechnology Center/Discovery Park; Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States). Dept. of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences and College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
2. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). School of Chemical Engineering and College of Engineering
3. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). School of Health Science and College of Health and Human Science

A scalable, solid-state elevated temperature process was developed to produce high capacity carbonaceous electrode materials for energy storage devices via decomposition of starch-based precursor in an inert atmosphere. The fabricated carbon-based architectures are useful as an excellent electrode material for lithium-ion, sodium-ion and lithium-sulfur batteries. This article focuses on the study and analysis of the formed nanometer-sized byproducts during the lab-scale production of carbonaceous electrode materials in the process design phase. The complete material production process was studied by operation, namely during heating, holding the reaction at elevated temperature, followed by cooling. The unknown downstream particles in the process exhaust were collected and characterized via aerosol and liquid suspensions, and they were quantified using direct-reading instruments for number and mass concentrations. The airborne emissions were collected on polycarbonate filters and TEM grids using the Tsai diffusion sampler (TDS) for characterization and further analysis. Released byproduct aerosols collected in a deionized (DI) water trap were analyzed using a Nanosight real time nanoparticle characterization system and the aerosols emitted post water suspension were collected and characterized. Individual particles in the nanometer size range were found in exhaust aerosols, however, crystal structured aggregates were formed on the sampling substrate after a long-term sampling of emitted exhaust. After characterizing the released aerosol byproducts, methods were also identified to mitigate possible human and environmental exposures upon the industrial implementation of such a process.

• Research Organization: Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V)
• Grant/Contract Number: EE0006832
• OSTI ID: 1430593
• Journal Information: Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 50, Issue 5; ISSN 0013-936X
• Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

25 ENERGY STORAGE
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY