Recycling lithium-ion battery graphite: Synthesis of adsorbent materials for highly efficient removal of dye and metal ions from wastewater
Dilshan Sandaruwan Premathilake, Francesca Colombi, Amilton Barbosa Botelho, Jorge Alberto Soares Tenório, Denise Crocce Romano Espinosa, Mentore Vaccari
Abstract
The fate of residual graphite derived from hydrometallurgical treatment of spent Lithium-ion batteries remains uncertain. This study dwells on the aim of identifying the potentialities of recycling residual graphite for wastewater treatment. Graphite was recovered hydrometallurgically, and new adsorption materials: graphite oxide (GO) and graphene oxide (GrO) were synthesized from the residual graphite using the chemical oxidization method. Synthesized materials showed higher interlayer spacings (GO= 0.81 nm, GrO=0.78 nm) than the commercially available similar materials. Adsorption studies revealed higher adsorption capacities for both dye (>550 mg/g in all cases) and metal ions (highest ∼93mg/g for Ni2+ and lowest ∼68mg/g for Zn2+). GrO showed superior results than GO due to its high surface area and porosity despite GO having more functional groups. Moreover, produced materials showed about 97% removal of dye and about 94% removal of contaminated metals which are higher performance than existing commercial or similar materials. These findings highlight the promising recycling capabilities of waste graphite and suggest its potential as a substitute for natural graphite.