In response to the growing demand for high-performance lithium-ion batteries, this study investigates the crucial role of different carbon sources in enhancing the electrochemical performance of lithium iron phosphate ( LiFePO4) cathode materials. Lithium iron phosphate ( LiFePO4) suffers from drawbacks, such as low electronic conductivity and low lithium-ion diffusion coefficient, which hinder its industrial development. Carbon is a common surface coating material for LiFePO4, and the source, coating method, coating amount, and incorporation method of carbon have a significant impact on the performance of LiFePO4 materials. In this work, iron phosphate was used as the iron and phosphorus source, and lithium carbonate was used as the lithium source. Glucose, phenolic resin, ascorbic acid, and starch were employed as carbon sources. Ethanol was utilized as a dispersing agent, and ball milling was employed to obtain the LiFePO4 precursor. Carbon-coated LiFePO4 cathode materials were synthesized using the carbothermal reduction method, and the effects of different carbon sources on the structure and electrochemical performance of LiFePO4 materials were systematically investigated. The results showed that, compared to other carbon sources, LiFePO4 prepared with glucose as the carbon source not only had a higher discharge specific capacity but also better rate cycle performance. Within a voltage range of 2.5–4.2 V, the initial discharge specific capacities at 0.1, 0.5, and 1 C rates were 154.6, 145.6, and 137.6 mAh/g, respectively. After 20 cycles at a 1 C rate, the capacity retention rate was 98.7%, demonstrating excellent electrochemical performance.

Spent nuclear fuels are temporarily stored in nuclear power plant site. When a problem such as cracking of spent nuclear fuel assembly or cladding occurs or uranium that has not been separated during the reprocessing remains, it is necessary to treat it. The borosilicate glasses have been considered to vitrify whole spent nuclear fuel assembly. However, a large amount of Pb addition was necessary to oxidize metals in assembly to make them suitable for oxide glass vitrifcation. Furthermore, these borosilicate glasses need to be melted at high temperatures (> 1,400°C) when UO2 content is more than 20wt%. Iron phosphate glasses can be melted at a relatively low temperature (< 1,300°C) even with a similar UO2 addition. A composition of iron phosphate glass for immobilization of uranium oxide has been developed. The glasses have glass transition temperatures of ~555°C that are high enough to maintain its phase stability in geological repositories. The waste loading of UO2 in the glass is ~33.73wt%. Normalized elemental releases from the product consistency test were well below the US regulation of 2 g/m2. Nuclear criticality safety and heat generation in deep geological repositories were calculated using MCNP and computational fluid dynamics simulation, respectively. The glass had effective neutron multiplication factor (keff) of 0.755, which is smaller than the nuclear- criticality safety regulation of 0.95. Surface temperature of the disposal canister is expected to lower than the limit temperature (< 100°C). Most of the U in the glass is in the 4+state, which is more chemically durable than the 6+state. As a result of long-term dissolution experiment, chemically-durable uranium pyrophosphate (UP2O7) crystals were formed.

This study was carried out for characterization of MIO synthesized in our laboratory by co-precipitation method and applied isotherm and kinetic models for adsorption properties. XRD analysis were conducted to find crystal structure of synthesized MIO. Further SEM and XPS analysis was performed before and after phosphate adsorption, and BET analysis for surface characterization. Phosphate stock solution was prepared by KH2PO4 for characterization of phosphate adsorption, and batch experiment was conducted using 50 ml conical tube. Langmuir and Freundlich models were applied based on adsorption equilibrium test of MIO by initial phosphate solution. Pseudo first order and pseudo second order models were applied for interpretation of kinetic model by temperature. Surface area and pore size of MIO were found 89.6 m2/g and 16 nm respectively. And, the determination coefficient (R2) value of Langmuir model was 0.9779, which was comparatively higher than that of Freundlich isotherm model 0.9340.