Co-doped NiFe carbonate hydroxide hydrate nanosheets with edge effect constructed from spent lithium-ion battery ternary cathodes for oxygen evolution reaction

Liang Yu; Huanhui Chen; Gaoyang Ma; Junrong Zeng; Ya Liu; Gaowei Zhang; Liubiao Zhong; Yejun Qiu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2024.04.169

Co-doped NiFe carbonate hydroxide hydrate nanosheets with edge effect constructed from spent lithium-ion battery ternary cathodes for oxygen evolution reaction

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 Apr 24:668:190-201. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.04.169. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Liang Yu¹, Huanhui Chen¹, Gaoyang Ma¹, Junrong Zeng¹, Ya Liu¹, Gaowei Zhang², Liubiao Zhong³, Yejun Qiu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Shenzhen Engineering Lab of Flexible Transparent Conductive Films, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, PR China.
² School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lingnan Normal University, Zhanjiang 524048, PR China. Electronic address: zhanggaowei@lingnan.edu.cn.
³ Shenzhen Engineering Lab of Flexible Transparent Conductive Films, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, PR China. Electronic address: zhongliubiao@sina.cn.
⁴ Shenzhen Engineering Lab of Flexible Transparent Conductive Films, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Optoelectronic Materials and Intelligent Photonic System, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, PR China. Electronic address: yejunqiu@hit.edu.cn.

PMID: 38677208
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.04.169

Abstract

The recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has received increasing attention for environment and resource reclamation. Converting LIBs wastes into high-efficiency catalysts is a win-win strategy for realizing resource reclamation and addressing sustainable energy challenges. Herein, we developed a simple method to upcycle spent-LIBs cathode powder into Co-doped NiFe carbonate hydroxide hydrate (Co/NFCH-FF) as a low-cost and efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst. The optimized Co/NFCH-FF electrode appears very competitive OER performances with low overpotentials of 201 and 249 mV at 10 and 100 mA cm^-2, respectively, a small Tafel slope of 48.4 mV dec^-1, and a high long-term stability. Moreover, we reveal that the existence of Co atoms leads to the formation of a crystalline/amorphous (c/a) interface at the Co/NFCH nanosheet edge, inducing the nanosheets possess a unique edge effect to enhance electric fields and accumulate hydroxide ions (OH^-) at the edge during the OER process. Benefiting from edge effect, Co/NFCH-FF shows outstanding intrinsic activity. Furthermore, Co atoms as dopants stabilize the electronic structure of Co/NFCH-FF, enabling Co/NFCH-FF to exhibit excellent catalytic stability. This work provides an effective strategy for converting the end-life LIBs to high-performance multicomponent OER electrocatalysts and proposes new insights into the mechanism of enhanced catalytic activity of Co/NFCH.

Keywords: Edge effect; NiFe carbonate hydroxide hydrate; Oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalyst; Recycling of lithium-ion batteries; Water splitting.