Utilization of Si/SiO/AlO materials from recycled solar cells for a high-performance lithium-ion battery anode

• Published in: Green chemistry : an international journal and green chemistry resource : GC 2022-07, Vol.24 (13), p.5151-5161
• Main Authors: Liu, Yi-Hung, Chen, Yen-Lin, Chen, Yu-Sin, Huang, Shih-Ming, Huang, Hsu-Min, Lin, Shih-Jen, Yang, Ching-Yi
• Format: Article
• ISSN: 1463-9262; 1463-9270
• DOI: 10.1039/d2gc01770a

With the rapid growth of solar energy, recycling and reuse of end-of-life solar modules have become a critical issue. In light of this, a simple, yet environmentally friendly, ball milling process was used to transform the recycled Si of waste solar cells into a lithium ion battery anode material. The ball-milled recycled Si was further combined with a carbon fiber paper (CP) substrate to fabricate a composite electrode. The milling time and rotation speed were optimized to form a Si/SiO x /Al 2 O 3 active material with a moderate primary particle size, agglomeration extent, and oxidation states of Si and Al. These features allow the recycled Si to exhibit promising cycling and rate performances. Additionally, introducing a hydrothermally treated CP substrate can further improve the electrochemical performance of the composite electrode, delivering a high discharge capacity of 1603 mA h g −1 after 100 cycles (capacity retention of approximately 91% (200 mA g −1 )) and 813 mA h g −1 at 2000 mA g −1 , due to the presence of nitrogen-containing groups, particularly the pyridinic-N group. This is evidenced by the reduced solid electrolyte interface and charge transfer resistances and the increased ion diffusion coefficient of the Si/SiO x /Al 2 O 3 -based cell. Si/SiO x /Al 2 O 3 composites obtained from recycled solar cells are integrated with modified carbon fiber substrates, forming a high-performance lithium-ion battery anode.