Sustainable production of graphene oxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles from spent Zn-C batteries

Recycling batteries helps to reduce waste, protects the environment, and allows their components to be reused in the manufacture of new products. In this work, the possibility of valorizing zinc and graphite from spent Zn-C batteries was investigated, not only to reduce pollution but also to create new materials with a wide range of industrial applications. Graphite electrodes were used for the synthesis of graphene oxide (GO) by the modified Hummer's method, while zinc was used for the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NP) by the coprecipitation method. The synthesized GO and ZnO-NP were structurally analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The appearance of a new diffraction peak at 10.7° and the decrease in the intensity of the diffraction peak of graphite at 26.6° and 42.4° indicate the oxidation of graphite and the formation of graphene oxide. In the case of the XRD pattern of ZnO, zincite was identified as the only crystalline phase, and the average crystal size was 41.63 nm.