Old tyres become batteries

Old tyres could be a source of anode carbon for lithium-ion cells, said Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US.

When used in lab cells, after 100 cycles capacity was nearly 390mAh/g “which exceeds the best properties of commercial graphite”, claimed ORNL, attributing this to the micro-structure of the tyre-derived carbon.

The method involves baking the rubber in an inert atmosphere (pyrolysis) to produce a material similar to powdered graphite. It is described in a paper in the journal RSC Advances.

Scaled up is next, with plans to demonstrate the results in large ‘pouch’-style cells – vehicle and renewable energy storage are intended markets.

Licensees are sought, as are other applications for the carbon, such as water filtration, gas absorption and gas storage.

steve bush

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via Yuichun