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Research on the utilization of ultra-long carbon nanotubes in lithium-ion batteries based on an environment-friendly society

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Abstract

To build an environment-friendly society, clean transportation systems, and renewable energy sources play essential roles. It is critical to improve the lifetime mileage of electric vehicles’ batteries for reducing the cycle life cost and carbon footprint in green transportation. In this paper, a long-life lithium-ion battery is achieved by using ultra-long carbon nanotubes (UCNTs) as a conductive agent with relatively low content (up to 0.2% wt.%) in the electrode. Ultra-long CNT could realize longer conductive path crossing active material bulks in the electrode. Meanwhile, the low content of UCNTs can help to minimize conductive agent content in electrodes and obtain higher energy density. The film resistance and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) confirmed that the use of UCNTs could markedly enhance electronic conductivity in the battery. The battery’s life and life mileage can be prolonged by almost half due to the superior electronic conductivity of UCNTs. The life cycle cost and carbon footprint are also significantly reduced, which could markedly increase economic and environmental performance.

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The data used and obtained during the study will be available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This research was supported by Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department (22A0724 and 22B1109), Hunan Province Social Science Project (21YBA265) and Changsha Natural Science Foundation Project (kq2208242).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Changsha Normal University, Changsha, 410199, People’s Republic of China

    Xuanyu Yang, **bin Lu, Min Wei, Haihua Ling & Ying Li

  2. School of Business, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, People’s Republic of China

    Xuanyu Yang

  3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, People’s Republic of China

    Ziling **e

  4. School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, People’s Republic of China

    **nxin Tan

  5. BASF ShanShan Battery Materials Co., LTD, Hunan, 410006, People’s Republic of China

    **nxin Tan

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  1. Xuanyu Yang
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  2. Ziling **e
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  4. Min Wei
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  7. Ying Li
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Contributions

Xuanyu Yang: conceptualization; writing—original draft preparation; writing—review and editing; funding acquisition. Ziling **e: conceptualization; writing—original draft preparation; methodology; writing—review and editing; formal analysis. **bin Lu: formal analysis; investigation; writing—review and editing; funding acquisition, Min Wei: funding acquisition. **nxin Tan: investigation; resources. Haihua Ling: conceptualization; resources; writing—review and editing; project administration. Ying Li: project administration. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Haihua Ling.

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Highlights

• Ultra-long CNT is utilized as a conductive agent to realize long conductive path crossing active material bulks in the electrode.

• By a very small amount of ultra-long CNT, cathode film resistance, electrochemical impedance, and direct current resistance all markedly decrease.

• Excellent power capability and long life of LIB can be achieved by 0.2% ultra-CNT.

• By applying ultra-CNT, the life cycle cost and carbon footprint of LB would significantly decrease.

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Yang, X., **e, Z., Lu, X. et al. Research on the utilization of ultra-long carbon nanotubes in lithium-ion batteries based on an environment-friendly society. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 56003–56015 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26309-6

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