Copper fractal growth during recycling from waste printed circuit boards by slurry electrolysis

doi:10.1007/s11783-021-1405-7

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2021, Vol. 15

Issue (6) : 117 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-021-1405-7

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Copper fractal growth during recycling from waste printed circuit boards by slurry electrolysis

Jiqin Wang, Xiaoxia Yi, Xiangfei Zeng, Shuyuan Chen, Rui Wang, Jiancheng Shu, Mengjun Chen(

), Zhengxue Xiao

Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource Recycle, Ministry of Education, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China

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Abstract

• Copper fractal growth was observed during WPCBs recycling by slurry electrolysis.

• Dendrites fractal growth could be controlled by additive during electrodeposition.

• Additive was proved to be an effective way to refine the copper crystal.

• These findings contribute to enrich the study of slurry electrolysis.

Superfine copper particles could be directly prepared from waste printed circuit boards by slurry electrolysis. Meanwhile, copper fractal growth could be observed. To better understand this phenomenon, the factors that affect copper dendrites in a point-cathode system were discussed in detail. These results showed that the fractal degree of copper dendrites increased as the increase of applied voltage and the decrease of copper sulfate and gelatin concentrations. Sodium lauryl sulfate and hydrochloric acid concentrations could not significantly impact the fractal degree of copper dendrites, while gelatin concentration could. The minimum copper fractal dimension was 1.069 when gelatin and copper sulfate concentration was 120 mg/L and 0.1 mol/L, respectively with an applied voltage of 11 V. Moreover, the results diffusion-limited aggregation model demonstrated that particle translational speed, particle numbers and binding probability significantly affected copper dendrite patterns. The scanning electron microscopy results indicated that the three additives greatly affected the refinement of the copper crystal. These findings contribute to enrich the theoretical study on metals recovery from e-waste by slurry electrolysis.

Keywords Dendritic copper Fractal growth WPCBs Slurry electrolysis

Corresponding Author(s): Mengjun Chen

Issue Date: 24 March 2021

Cite this article:

Jiqin Wang,Xiaoxia Yi,Xiangfei Zeng, et al. Copper fractal growth during recycling from waste printed circuit boards by slurry electrolysis[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2021, 15(6): 117.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-021-1405-7
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2021/V15/I6/117

Fig.1 Diagram of the experimental device used in point electrode electrodeposition.

Fig.2 (a) I-T curves of 0.1-mol/L copper sulfate at different applied voltages; (b) I-T curves of copper sulfate at different concentrations at an applied voltage of 11 V.

Fig.3 (a-f) Growth morphologies of electrodeposited copper at different applied voltages with 0.1 mol/L copper sulfate; (g) Corresponding fractal dimensions (a-7; b-9; c-11; d-13; e-14; f-15 V).

Fig.4 (a-e) Growth morphologies of electrodeposited copper with different copper sulfate concentrations at 11 V applied voltage; (f) Corresponding fractal dimensions (a-0.05; b-0.1; c-0.2; d-0.3; e-0.4 mol/L).

Fig.5 (a-e) Growth morphologies of electrodeposited copper with different SDS concentrations at 11V and 0.1 mol/L copper sulfate concentration; (f) Corresponding fractal dimensions (a-0; b-30; c-50; d-70; e-90 mg/L).

Fig.6 (a-e) Growth morphologies of electrodeposited copper at different gelatin concentrations under 11 V and a 0.1-mol/L copper sulfate concentration; (f) Corresponding fractal dimensions (a-0; b-30; c-60; d-90; e-120 mg/L).

Fig.7 (a-e) Growth morphologies of the electrodeposited copper with different hydrochloric acid concentrations at 11 V and a 0.1-mol/L copper sulfate concentration; (f) Corresponding fractal dimensions (a-0; b-0.05; c-0.1; d-0.15; e-0.2 mol/L).

Fig.8 (A-D) Morphologies of electrodeposited copper with different additives captured by SEM (A- without additive; B- 50 mg/L SDS; C- 0.1 mol/L hydrochloric acid; D- 90 mg/L gelatin); (A1-D1) Corresponding sampling stage positions.

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[1]	Xiaonan Liu, Qiuxia Tan, Yungui Li, Zhonghui Xu, Mengjun Chen. Copper recovery from waste printed circuit boards concentrated metal scraps by electrolysis[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2017, 11(5): 10-.

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