Waste to Wealth Approach: Customizing Spent LiB Anodes to High Performance Supercapacitor Electrode

Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) are widely used in various applications because of their high energy density, low self-discharge rate, and portability. The requirements for LiBs continue to increase drastically every year; however, the disposal of spent LIBs is a cumbersome task. To resolve this issue, spent LiB anodes are customized into high-performance supercapacitor (SC) electrodes via supercritical water exfoliation. The specific capacitance of spent LiB anodes (289 F g-1 at 2 A g-1) significantly improved after exfoliation (351 F g-1 at 2 A g-1). Furthermore, the electrochemical performance of the exfoliated LiB anode mushroomed upon the addition of dopamine (as a redox-additive for the first time) with a conventional H2SO4 electrolyte. The specific capacitance of the exfoliated LiB anode is incredibly improved after the addition of dopamine with H2SO4, from 286 to 571 F g-1 at 4 A g-1. A flexible SC is also fabricated using PVA/H2SO4 and dopamine/PVA/H2SO4 as the gel electrolyte. The fabricated flexible SC with dopamine/PVA/H2SO4 exhibited an enormously high energy density of 44 Wh kg-1 at 700 W kg-1. The increased specific capacitance and energy density of the SC after the addition of dopamine with H2SO4 and PVA/H2SO4 may be due to the reversible reaction of dopamine to dopamine-o-quinone with H+ ions. Spent Li-ion battery anodes are customized into high-performance supercapacitor electrodes via supercritical water exfoliation.image

Automated summary

This study focuses on customizing spent LiB anodes into high-performance supercapacitor electrodes via supercritical water exfoliation, with a significant improvement in electrochemical performance and energy density after the addition of dopamine. This processing method offers a solution to the recycling of spent LiBs.