Recovery of carbon from spent carbon cathode by alkaline and acid leaching and thermal treatment and exploration of its application in lithium-ion batteries

作者：Zhou, Hao; Zhang, Dayong; Jiang, Yongjun; Zeng, Bo; Zhao, Chenxi; Zhang, Mingjie; Zeng, Baiyan; Zhu, Xiaoquan; Su, Xintai^*; Romanovski, Valentin; Bi, Ran

来源：Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2023.

DOI：10.1007/s11356-023-30404-z

• Spent carbon cathode
• Recovered carbon
• Alkaline and acid leaching method
• Lithium-ion batteries

The spent carbon cathode (SCC) is a hazardous solid waste from aluminum production. It has an abundant carbon source and a unique graphitic carbon layer structure, making it a valuable waste for recycling. This paper uses alkaline and acid leaching methods to report a straightforward way of extracting recovered carbon (RC) from SCC as anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The results show that alkaline and acid leaching conditions at 70 degrees C with 1 M NaOH and HCl solution individually in 6 h and a liquid-solid ratio of 20:1 can result in RC with up to 94.63% carbon content than 49.38% in SCC, exhibiting a typical graphite structure. SCC and RC materials are obtained after calcination at 400 degrees C in an inert atmosphere and used as anode materials (SCC-400 and RC-400). In this paper, The initial charging specific capacities are 490.0 mA h g-1, 195.4 mA h g-1, and 423.2 mA h g-1and initial coulombic efficiencies (ICE) are 67.8%, 78.9%, and 72.0% of RC-400, SCC, and SCC-400. RC-400 also shows excellent capacity retention and impedance values. This exciting finding provides a viable, non-hazardous, and resourceful method for treating and disposing of SCC from aluminum electrolysis.