Cold-plasma activation converting conductive agent in spent Li-ion batteries to bifunctional oxygen reduction/evolution electrocatalyst for zinc-air batteries

Yifan Liu; Xiangqun Zhuge; Tong Liu; Zhihong Luo; Kun Luo; Yibing Li; Yurong Ren; Maryam Bayati; Xiaoteng Liu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2024.03.169

Cold-plasma activation converting conductive agent in spent Li-ion batteries to bifunctional oxygen reduction/evolution electrocatalyst for zinc-air batteries

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 Jul:665:793-800. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.03.169. Epub 2024 Mar 26.

Authors

Yifan Liu¹, Xiangqun Zhuge¹, Tong Liu¹, Zhihong Luo², Kun Luo³, Yibing Li⁴, Yurong Ren¹, Maryam Bayati⁵, Xiaoteng Liu⁶

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Centre of Intelligent Manufacturing Technology for the New Energy Vehicle Power Battery, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, PR China.
² College of Materials Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, PR China.
³ Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Centre of Intelligent Manufacturing Technology for the New Energy Vehicle Power Battery, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, PR China. Electronic address: luokun@cczu.edu.cn.
⁴ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, PR China. Electronic address: lybgems@glut.edu.cn.
⁵ Department of Mechanical and Construction Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8QH, UK.
⁶ Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Centre of Intelligent Manufacturing Technology for the New Energy Vehicle Power Battery, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, PR China; Department of Mechanical and Construction Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8QH, UK. Electronic address: terence.liu@northumbria.ac.uk.

PMID: 38554469
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.03.169

Abstract

Considerable amount of high-value transition metals components can be recycled in spent ternary lithium-ion batteries. In this study, we utilized the conductive agent carbon black, obtained from the leaching waste resulting from the chemical recovery of spent lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt (NCM) oxide cathode materials. This process allows us to create valuable bifunctional catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction and oxygen evolution reaction (ORR/OER), facilitated by a facile cold plasma activation method, as a part of lithium batteries circular economy. The activated conductive agent (RCA-30) exhibited an ORR half-wave potential of 0.74 V (vs. RHE) in 0.1 mol/L KOH solution, and an OER overpotential of 360 mV at 10 mA cm^-² in 1 mol/L KOH electrolyte, owing to nitrogen doping of carbon black and activation of surface metal oxides. The complete zinc-air batteries incorporating the activated catalysts at the cathode exhibited an open circuit potential of up to 1.48 V and sustained cycling for 100 h at a current density of 5 mA cm^-². Additionally, the activated catalysts contributed to a power density of 92 mW cm^-² and a full discharge capacity of 640 mAh/g.

Keywords: Activation; Bifunctional catalyst; Cold plasma; Conductive agent; Lithium-ion battery.