Abstract:
High−temperature CO
2 adsorbents play a key role in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. Among them, lithium orthosilicate (Li
4SiO
4) is promising due to its suitable operating temperature and good cyclic stability. However, the high cost of conventional precursors limits its practical application. In this study, a cost−effective strategy was developed to synthesize two−dimensional (2D) Li
4SiO
4 nanosheets using natural attapulgite (ATP) clay as the silicon source and spent lithium−ion battery cathode materials (LTCO) as the lithium source. Raw ATP was first acid−modified to remove most metal ions while preserving the Si–O tetrahedral framework. For lithium recovery, the spent LTCO was subjected to carbothermal reduction with freeze−dried onion powder as the biomass carbon source. The optimal conditions were identified as an LTCO−to−onion powder mass ratio of 1∶0.5 and a reduction temperature of 450 ℃, yielding Li
2CO
3 as the main product. The recovered Li
2CO
3 and the silica derived from acid−treated ATP were then used to prepare Li
4SiO
4 via a microwave−assisted hydrothermal method followed by calcination. Two reference samples were also prepared: one using analytical grade Li
2CO
3 (b−Li
4SiO
4) and another using commercial silica sol (c−Li
4SiO
4). a−Li
4SiO
4 exhibits a well−defined two−dimensional sheet−like morphology with a specific surface area of 213 m
2/g, which is much higher than that of c−Li
4SiO
4 (63 m
2/g). CO
2 adsorption performance was evaluated under 15% (vol) CO
2 at high temperatures. Dynamic adsorption–desorption tests show that the optimal adsorption temperature for a−Li
4SiO
4 is 625 ℃, lower than those of the reference samples. Isothermal adsorption measurements indicate that a−Li
4SiO
4 achieves a CO
2 uptake capacity of 0.307 g/g at 625 ℃, significantly outperforming b−Li
4SiO
4 (0.266 g/g) and c−Li
4SiO
4 (0.221 g/g). Furthermore, cyclic tests demonstrate that a−Li
4SiO
4 maintains excellent stability over multiple adsorption–desorption cycles.The superior performance of a−Li
4SiO
4 is attributed to its unique two−dimensional nanosheet architecture, which provides abundant active sites, facilitates CO
2 diffusion, and prevents particle agglomeration. This work therefore offers a synergistic approach for the high−value utilization of natural attapulgite and the resource recovery of spent lithium−ion batteries, paving the way for low−cost, high−performance CO
2 adsorbents.