TY - JOUR
T1 - Bridging Li-Ion Batteries and Fuel Cells: From Cathode Leaching Residue to an Atomic-Scale Catalytic System
AU - Liu, Mengjie
AU - Yang, Tsung Cheng
AU - Pan, Zhefei
AU - Lee, Jeongyeon
AU - An, Liang
AU - Qiu, Baolong
AU - Yin, Huayi
AU - Yang, Chia Min
AU - Lee, Lawrence Yoon Suk
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial supports from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong SAR, China (PolyU15217521), the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Q-CDA3), the Environmental Protection Department of the Hong Kong SAR, China (GTF202020051), Shenzhen Key Basic Research Project, China (JCYJ20220818102210023), the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 109-2113-M-007-018-MY3 and MOST 109-2634-F-007-023). National Synchrotron Radiation Research Centre, Taiwan is gratefully acknowledged for XAS characterizations.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2023/4/14
Y1 - 2023/4/14
N2 - End-of-life lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) constitute an “urban mine” that offers a great opportunity to repurpose the metal species. However, the direct and cross-domain reuse of their functional materials has been ignored. Herein, we report a case study of upcycling a LIB cathode, LiFePO4 particles embedded in N-doped carbon spheres (LFP/C), to a single-atomic (SA) electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Using a top-down leaching method, the LFP/C was converted to Fe SA-embedded hollow carbon spheres containing minor FeOx nanoclusters and FePO4 nanoparticles (SAFe/FeOx/FePO4). Our studies indicate that the neighboring FeOx/FePO4 modulate the electronic filling in the antibonding state of SAFe sites and thereby optimize the intermediate adsorption energy at the rate-determining step, leading to the boosted half-cell ORR activity as manifested by a high Eonset of 0.97 V. Furthermore, the membrane electrode fabricated with the SAFe/FeOx/FePO4 demonstrates great potentials in two practical energy conversion devices, an ammonia fuel cell and Zn-air battery, building a bridge across the energy applications.
AB - End-of-life lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) constitute an “urban mine” that offers a great opportunity to repurpose the metal species. However, the direct and cross-domain reuse of their functional materials has been ignored. Herein, we report a case study of upcycling a LIB cathode, LiFePO4 particles embedded in N-doped carbon spheres (LFP/C), to a single-atomic (SA) electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Using a top-down leaching method, the LFP/C was converted to Fe SA-embedded hollow carbon spheres containing minor FeOx nanoclusters and FePO4 nanoparticles (SAFe/FeOx/FePO4). Our studies indicate that the neighboring FeOx/FePO4 modulate the electronic filling in the antibonding state of SAFe sites and thereby optimize the intermediate adsorption energy at the rate-determining step, leading to the boosted half-cell ORR activity as manifested by a high Eonset of 0.97 V. Furthermore, the membrane electrode fabricated with the SAFe/FeOx/FePO4 demonstrates great potentials in two practical energy conversion devices, an ammonia fuel cell and Zn-air battery, building a bridge across the energy applications.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85149460598&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsenergylett.3c00109
DO - 10.1021/acsenergylett.3c00109
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85149460598
SN - 2380-8195
VL - 8
SP - 1652
EP - 1661
JO - ACS Energy Letters
JF - ACS Energy Letters
IS - 4
ER -