Although the rechargeable lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) batteries have extremely high theoretical specific energy, the practical application of these batteries is still limited by the instability of their carbon-based air-electrode, Li metal anode, and electrolytes towards reduced oxygen species. Here we demonstrate a simple one-step in-situ electrochemical pre-charging strategy to generate thin protective films on both carbon nanotubes (CNTs) air-electrode and Li metal anode simultaneously under an inert atmosphere. Li-O2 cells after such pre-treatment demonstrate significantly extended cycle life of 110 and 180 cycles under the capacity-limited protocol of 1000 mAh g-1 and 500 mAh g-1, respectively, which is far more than those without pre-treatment. The thin-films formed from decomposition of electrolyte during in-situ electrochemical pre-charging process in an inert environment can protect both CNTs air-electrode and Li metal anode prior to conventional Li-O2 discharge/charge cycling where reactive reduced oxygen species are formed. This work provides a new approach for protections of carbon-based air-electrode and Li metal anode in practical Li-O2 batteries, and may also be applied to other battery systems.
Liu, Bin, et al. "Enhanced Cyclability of Lithium-Oxygen Batteries with Electrodes Protected by Surface Films Induced via In Situ Electrochemical Process." Advanced Energy Materials, vol. 8, no. 11, Jan. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201702340
Liu, Bin, Xu, Wu, Tao, Jinhui, et al., "Enhanced Cyclability of Lithium-Oxygen Batteries with Electrodes Protected by Surface Films Induced via In Situ Electrochemical Process," Advanced Energy Materials 8, no. 11 (2018), https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201702340
@article{osti_1435886,
author = {Liu, Bin and Xu, Wu and Tao, Jinhui and Yan, Pengfei and Zheng, Jianming and Engelhard, Mark H. and Lu, Dongping and Wang, Chongmin and Zhang, Ji-Guang},
title = {Enhanced Cyclability of Lithium-Oxygen Batteries with Electrodes Protected by Surface Films Induced via In Situ Electrochemical Process},
annote = {Although the rechargeable lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) batteries have extremely high theoretical specific energy, the practical application of these batteries is still limited by the instability of their carbon-based air-electrode, Li metal anode, and electrolytes towards reduced oxygen species. Here we demonstrate a simple one-step in-situ electrochemical pre-charging strategy to generate thin protective films on both carbon nanotubes (CNTs) air-electrode and Li metal anode simultaneously under an inert atmosphere. Li-O2 cells after such pre-treatment demonstrate significantly extended cycle life of 110 and 180 cycles under the capacity-limited protocol of 1000 mAh g-1 and 500 mAh g-1, respectively, which is far more than those without pre-treatment. The thin-films formed from decomposition of electrolyte during in-situ electrochemical pre-charging process in an inert environment can protect both CNTs air-electrode and Li metal anode prior to conventional Li-O2 discharge/charge cycling where reactive reduced oxygen species are formed. This work provides a new approach for protections of carbon-based air-electrode and Li metal anode in practical Li-O2 batteries, and may also be applied to other battery systems.},
doi = {10.1002/aenm.201702340},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1435886},
journal = {Advanced Energy Materials},
issn = {ISSN 1614-6832},
number = {11},
volume = {8},
place = {United States},
publisher = {Wiley},
year = {2018},
month = {01}}