Amorphous Carbon Coating Enabling Waste Graphite to Reuse as High-Performance Anode of Lithium-Ion Battery

Taking full advantage of the waste graphite from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) to prepare the regenerate graphite anode and reuse it in lithium-ion batteries is a crucial strategy. Herein, we design a regeneration method involving pretreatment and an amorphous carbon layer coating to repair the defects of waste graphite. Specifically, through calcined in the air, sulfuric acid leaching, and amorphous carbon to modify the surface of graphite, the regenerated graphite not only has high purity but also can be reused as anode of LIBs. After two cycles of activation, the prepared graphite showed an excellent discharge specific capacity of 367.90 mAh g –1 at 0.1C. Besides, it also exhibits good cycling stability with a capacity retention of 83.24% after 350 cycles at 0.5C. Therefore, this work provides a valuable exploration for the cyclic utilization of waste graphite from spent lithium-ion batteries and demonstrates good economic and environmental benefits.