May 3, 2016 – Hard carbon materials recycled from tires continue to show great promise as anodes in sodium-ion batteries for large-scale energy storage, according to an Oak Ridge National Laboratory study led by Yunchao Li. The carbons, captured by pyrolyzing, or baking in the absence of oxygen, tire rubber at 1,100, 1,400 and 1,600 degrees Celsius showed capacities of 179, 185 and 203 milliamp hours, respectively, after 100 cycles in sodium-ion batteries. Researchers demonstrated a long cycle life with a capacity of 154 milliamp hours after 600 cycles in sodium-ion batteries. “This study provides a new pathway for inexpensive, environmentally benign and value-added waste tire-derived products toward large-scale energy storage applications,” said Li, a member of ORNL’s Chemical Sciences Division. The study is published in the Journal of Power Sources.