Used tyres to enhance battery performance!

The used tyres of your vehicle hold more value than just scrap. How? A new study conducted by some Indian-origin scientists at the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, states that the carbon black of old tyres, can be utilised in producing anodes for better-performing lithium-ion batteries.

In a paper published in the journal RSC Advances, a team of scientists headed by Parans Paranthaman and Amit Naskar, outlined that the cabon black of a tyre has numerous advantages over conventional materials used in making anodes for lithium-ion batteries.

The scientists developed a technique to modify the microstructural characteristics of carbon black, to create a better anode for lithium-ion batteries. In the process, a proprietary pretreatment is given to recover pyrolytic carbon black material, which is similar to graphite but man-made.

On this invention, the leading-man Parans Paranthaman said, "Using waste tires for products such as energy storage is very attractive not only from the carbon materials recovery perspective but also for controlling environmental hazards caused by waste tire stock piles."

For experiment, researchers made a small laboratory-scale battery, using the anode made of carbon black from tyres, and that has a reversible capacity which is higher than what is possible with commercial graphite materials. Interestingly, post 100 cycles, the capacity measures nearly 390 milliamp hours per gram of carbon anode, which exceeds the best properties of commercial graphite. According to the inventors, this is a result of the unique microstructure of tyre-derived carbon.

"This technology addresses the need to develop an inexpensive, environmentally benign carbon composite anode material with high-surface area, higher-rate capability and long-term stability," Amit Naskar said.

Source: ET