Carbon coated electric arc furnace dust prepared by one-pot pyrolysis: An efficient, low carbon footprint electrode material for lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

This work offers useful insights into the evaluation of the electric arc furnace dust in green energy applications by surface engineering. To produce low-carbon-footprint electrodes, for the first time in the open literature, the practical pyrolysis (of sucrose) method is applied to create a nanometer-thick carbon layer over the dust. Advanced techniques are used to characterize the carbon-coated electric arc furnace flue dust morphologically, structurally, and chemically. Galvanostatic tests reveal that the carbon-coated dust exhibits 600 mAh g?1 discharge capacity after 250 cycles. The rate test proves that the carbon-coated dust can withstand a high current load (2A g?1) and delivers 540 mAh g?1 after 250 cycles when the current load is decreased to 0.1A g?1. This obtained capacity shows that with the correct material selection and process design, it is possible to produce low-carbon footprint electrodes at a low cost. Electrochemical characterizations indicate that the lithiation reaction of the carbon-coated dust takes place similarly to that of the anode materials which are made of synthetically fabricated carbon-coated transition metal oxides and/or ferrites. It is anticipated that this study sets an example for the valorization of the various industrial wastes in energy applications in the future.