EduAsiaNews, Beijing — Amid a worsening global electronic waste crisis, researchers from Shenyang Agricultural University, China, are offering an innovative solution that addresses two major problems at once: the mounting pile of discarded phone batteries and industrial lignin waste. The research team has successfully developed a new method to transform both waste streams into high-performance electrode materials for next-generation sodium-ion batteries.
Published in the journal Biochar, the study employs hydrothermal synthesis techniques to extract critical metals such as nickel and cobalt from discarded mobile phone batteries. These metals are then fused with carbon derived from lignin — a by-product of the paper and biofuel industries that has long been routinely burned or carelessly discarded. The result is a composite material that is far more than a simple recycled mixture; it is a high-functioning electrode with an initial discharge capacity exceeding 1,000 milliampere-hours per gram.
The researchers also noted that the material maintains strong performance across repeated charge-discharge cycles, even as current density is increased. This characteristic opens up broad potential applications in grid-scale energy storage, electric vehicles, and portable electronics.
Sodium-ion batteries have become an increasingly strategic area of research globally, as sodium is far more abundant, affordable, and environmentally friendly than lithium. Yet the greatest challenge has always been the development of efficient electrode materials. This research from Shenyang demonstrates that the answer to that challenge may well be found in a pile of rubbish. (**)
