The Effect of Potassium Impurities Deliberately Introduced into Activated Carbon Cathodes on the Performance of Lithium-Oxygen Batteries

Zhai, Dengyun; Lau, Kah Chun; Wang, Hsien-Hau; Wen, Jianguo; Miller, Dean J.; Kang, Feiyu; Li, Baohua; Zavadil, Kevin; Curtiss, Larry A.

doi:10.1002/cssc.201500960

Title: The Effect of Potassium Impurities Deliberately Introduced into Activated Carbon Cathodes on the Performance of Lithium-Oxygen Batteries

Journal Article · Wed Dec 02 00:00:00 EST 2015 · ChemSusChem

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201500960· OSTI ID:1332997

Zhai, Dengyun ^[1]; Lau, Kah Chun ^[2]; Wang, Hsien-Hau ^[2]; Wen, Jianguo ^[3]; Miller, Dean J. ^[3]; Kang, Feiyu ^[4]; Li, Baohua ^[4]; Zavadil, Kevin ^[5]; Curtiss, Larry A. ^[2]

Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Materials Science Division
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Electron Microscopy Center
Tsinghua Univ., Shenzhen (China). Graduate School
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies

Rechargeable lithium-air (Li-O₂) batteries have drawn much interest owing to their high energy density. We report on the effect of deliberately introducing potassium impurities into the cathode material on the electrochemical performance of a Li-O₂ battery. Small amounts of potassium introduced into the activated carbon (AC) cathode material in the synthesis process are found to have a dramatic effect on the performance of the Li-O₂ cell. An increased amount of potassium significantly increases capacity, cycle life, and round-trip efficiency. This improved performance is probably due to a larger amount of LiO₂ in the discharge product, which is a mixture of LiO₂ and Li₂O₂, resulting from the increase in the amount of potassium present. No substantial correlation with porosity or surface area in an AC cathode is found. Lastly, experimental and computational studies indicate that potassium can act as an oxygen reduction catalyst, which can account for the dependence of performance on the amount of potassium.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1332997

Journal Information:: ChemSusChem, Vol. 8, Issue 24; ISSN 1864-5631

Publisher:: ChemPubSoc EuropeCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 12 works

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Title: The Effect of Potassium Impurities Deliberately Introduced into Activated Carbon Cathodes on the Performance of Lithium-Oxygen Batteries

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