Electrochemical variability of natural mineral mixtures as electrode materials in Li-ion batteries

John Donald Morley; Kathryn Hadler; Chandramohan George; Pablo R. Brito-Parada

doi:10.1039/d6eb00037a

Electrochemical variability of natural mineral mixtures as electrode materials in Li-ion batteries

John Donald Morley
, Kathryn Hadler
, Chandramohan George
, Pablo R. Brito-Parada

Imperial College London
Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Natural mineral systems can be effectively used to make battery material supply chains more secure and sustainable. However, the impact of their multi-mineral electrochemistry must be considered for effective deployment. Mine tailings are shown as a potential sustainable natural mineral source. A simplified ternary system of pyrite, quartz and muscovite was examined for its trends in electrochemical performance. Mixing of minerals is shown to adversely affect charge transfer impedance (R_ct) and diffusion coefficient (D_Li⁺) values post-cycling; R_ct values are 10 times greater for mixtures than pure phase minerals, and D_Li⁺ values are an order of magnitude lower than pure phase minerals. Within mixtures, the component of capacity from pyrite decays more rapidly than in a pure mineral phase. A comparison with two mine tailings reveals the inclusion of lesser amounts of pyrite in a majority silicate mixture to boost electrochemical performance, while the opposite leads to reduced performance. The results convey that a clear link between mineral composition and expected electrochemical performance is required to fully realise the benefits of mixed natural mineral sources for sustainable battery electrodes.

Original language	English
Number of pages	16
Journal	EES Batteries
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/d6eb00037a
Publication status	Published - 21 Jul 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2026.

Data Availability Statement

All data supporting the findings in this study are available within the paper, supplementary information (SI) and three attached workbooks (W1, W2 and W3). Workbook W1 contains the fully cited mine tailings compositions, workbook W2 contains the geographical location of all mine tailings compositions cited and workbook W3 contains all the electrochemical results for the mixtures presented in this article as raw data in a tabulated form. Supplementary information is available. See DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d6eb00037a.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the ISIS Materials Characterisation Laboratory at the UKRI research complex at Harwell for access to undertake X-Ray Diffraction measurements. The authors would like to thank S. Riley, M. Kooplikkattil Sadan and A. Vamvakeros for discussions regarding the experimental work and K. Sibbel for discussions on research direction.

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10.1039/d6eb00037aLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "Natural mineral systems can be effectively used to make battery material supply chains more secure and sustainable. However, the impact of their multi-mineral electrochemistry must be considered for effective deployment. Mine tailings are shown as a potential sustainable natural mineral source. A simplified ternary system of pyrite, quartz and muscovite was examined for its trends in electrochemical performance. Mixing of minerals is shown to adversely affect charge transfer impedance (Rct) and diffusion coefficient (DLi+) values post-cycling; Rct values are 10 times greater for mixtures than pure phase minerals, and DLi+ values are an order of magnitude lower than pure phase minerals. Within mixtures, the component of capacity from pyrite decays more rapidly than in a pure mineral phase. A comparison with two mine tailings reveals the inclusion of lesser amounts of pyrite in a majority silicate mixture to boost electrochemical performance, while the opposite leads to reduced performance. The results convey that a clear link between mineral composition and expected electrochemical performance is required to fully realise the benefits of mixed natural mineral sources for sustainable battery electrodes.",

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N2 - Natural mineral systems can be effectively used to make battery material supply chains more secure and sustainable. However, the impact of their multi-mineral electrochemistry must be considered for effective deployment. Mine tailings are shown as a potential sustainable natural mineral source. A simplified ternary system of pyrite, quartz and muscovite was examined for its trends in electrochemical performance. Mixing of minerals is shown to adversely affect charge transfer impedance (Rct) and diffusion coefficient (DLi+) values post-cycling; Rct values are 10 times greater for mixtures than pure phase minerals, and DLi+ values are an order of magnitude lower than pure phase minerals. Within mixtures, the component of capacity from pyrite decays more rapidly than in a pure mineral phase. A comparison with two mine tailings reveals the inclusion of lesser amounts of pyrite in a majority silicate mixture to boost electrochemical performance, while the opposite leads to reduced performance. The results convey that a clear link between mineral composition and expected electrochemical performance is required to fully realise the benefits of mixed natural mineral sources for sustainable battery electrodes.

AB - Natural mineral systems can be effectively used to make battery material supply chains more secure and sustainable. However, the impact of their multi-mineral electrochemistry must be considered for effective deployment. Mine tailings are shown as a potential sustainable natural mineral source. A simplified ternary system of pyrite, quartz and muscovite was examined for its trends in electrochemical performance. Mixing of minerals is shown to adversely affect charge transfer impedance (Rct) and diffusion coefficient (DLi+) values post-cycling; Rct values are 10 times greater for mixtures than pure phase minerals, and DLi+ values are an order of magnitude lower than pure phase minerals. Within mixtures, the component of capacity from pyrite decays more rapidly than in a pure mineral phase. A comparison with two mine tailings reveals the inclusion of lesser amounts of pyrite in a majority silicate mixture to boost electrochemical performance, while the opposite leads to reduced performance. The results convey that a clear link between mineral composition and expected electrochemical performance is required to fully realise the benefits of mixed natural mineral sources for sustainable battery electrodes.

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Electrochemical variability of natural mineral mixtures as electrode materials in Li-ion batteries

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Acknowledgements

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