Assessing virgin and reclaimed carbon fibre electrodes in structural batteries

Journal article, 2025

The integration of structural components with energy storage functionality is a promising pathway to attaining weight reduction in aircraft and electric vehicles. In this work, we present a structural lithium-ion full cell that utilizes a discontinuous recycled carbon fibre textile as a cathode, paired with a virgin twill-weave carbon fibre anode and embedded within an epoxy-based solid battery electrolyte (SBE) containing an LiTFSI:TEGDME solvate ionic liquid (SIL). Two carbon fibre architectures were evaluated in half-cell conditions for both the cathode and anode - a 60 GSM recycled non-woven and a 325 GSM twill-weave carbon fibre. Despite the lower mass loading, the reclaimed non-woven carbon fibre outperformed the woven counterpart due to possessing superior ion accessibility, resin infiltration and active mass distribution. The evaluation of a hybrid full cell using a reclaimed carbon fibre cathode and twill-weave anode demonstrated stable cycling at C/20 with a specific capacity of 25 mAh g 1, fabricated entirely under ambient conditions without the need for a glovebox or dry room. This scalable prepreg-inspired approach demonstrates the feasibility of multifunctional composite design under
real-world conditions, whilst also valorising reclaimed carbon fibres.