Waste to Resource: Surface Modification of Electric Arc Furnace Flue Dust by Ball Milling and In Situ Carbonization

In this article, instead of synthesizing the electrode active material using expensive precursors that lead to high carbon emissions to the atmosphere during fabrication, an alternative engineering approach is presented for the utilization of the electric arc furnace flue dust, which is an industrial waste, as anode material in lithium-ion batteries. In this scope, firstly ball milling of the flue dust with citric acid is applied and then in situ carbonization conditions are optimized by pyrolyzing the mixture at different temperatures (600 °C and 750 °C) and times (4 h and 6 h). Every sample delivers capacities greater than graphite. Structural, morphological, and chemical characterization results demonstrate that the designed method not only promotes the formation of a nanometer-thick carbon layer formation over the particles but also induces partial phase transformation in the structure. The best performance is achieved when citric acid is used as the carbon source and the ball-milled powder is treated at 600 °C for 4 h in nitrogen (C6004): It delivers 714 mAh g⁻¹ capacity under a current load of 50 mA g⁻¹ after 100 cycles. This research is expected to set an example for the utilization of different industrial wastes in high value-added applications, such as energy storage.

Graphical Abstract