- Advantage of this is that sodium and potassium are more readily available than lithium
- This strategy was given by Xing-Long Wu’s team at Northeast Normal University
According to a report by Chemistryworld, scientists in China have found out a way to reuse graphite anodes from spent lithium-ion batteries in sodium-ion and potassium-ion batteries. At present, recycling strategies only generate recycled compounds rather than functional materials. As per the report, most of these strategies deal with cathodes and not anodes.
The report said that the new strategy given by Xing-Long Wu’s team at Northeast Normal University not only uses a simple method to recycle graphite from lithium-ion battery anodes but also uses the resulting graphite in sodium-ion and potassium-ion batteries. The advantage of this is that sodium and potassium are more readily available than lithium.
Scraped graphite anode powdered off from the exhausted anodes
The report said that the researchers scraped graphite anode powdered off from the exhausted anodes, stirred it in ethanol, centrifuged it and then dried it into a powder. The researchers then calcined the resulting compound at 700°C, 1000°C, 1300°C and 1600°C for 4 hours under an argon atmosphere to obtain recycled graphite, which they used in new anodes. As per the report, the team used this strategy to graphite but it plans to work on recycling and reusing other exhausted materials from lithium-ion batteries soon.
