Water Electrolysis Anode Based on 430 Stainless Steel Coated with Cobalt Recycled from Li-Ion Batteries

Abstract

In this paper, a new environmentally-friendly anode for hydrogen production was developed based on 430 stainless steel with an electrodeposited cobalt layer. The novelty of this work is the cobalt source once the electrodeposition bath was obtained from acid dissolution of a spent Li-ion battery cathode. The oxygen evolution reaction on electrodeposited cobalt in 1 M KOH is compatible with the E. Kobussen mechanism. The water discharge is related with reaction determinant step in low overpotential. The cobalt electrodeposition (3 Ccm−2) promotes a significant improvement of 430 stainless steel anodic properties for oxygen evolution reaction. When the overpotential reaches 370 mV, the density current for 430 stainless steel with electrodeposit cobalt is 19 mA·cm−2 against 0.80 mA·cm−2 for 430 stainless steel without cobalt. Thus, the anode construction described in this paper is an excellent option for Li-ion battery recycling.

Keywords

• Li-ion batteries
• anode
• cobalt recycling