Tin oxide/graphite nanocomposite prepared from the negative graphite electrode of spent Li-ion batteries via a potentially sustainable synthesis method

Abstract We demonstrate the room-temperature synthesis of a nanocomposite powder by simply dispersing the negative graphite electrode (NE) collected from a model spent Li-ion battery (LIB) into SnCl2 aqueous solution. The thus-obtained nanocomposite (Sn content of 6.9 wt%) composed of tin oxide nanoparticles (∼ 10 nm in size) and graphite showed ∼10% higher capacity (392 mAh/g at 0.1C and 0.005 to 1.5 V vs. Li/Li+) than an LIB anode when compared with the graphite powder obtained by washing NEs with water.