1D Materials as Electrocatalysts for Metal-Air Batteries

Abstract

The need for energy in our daily life grows gradually and conventional Li-ion batteries can no longer keep up with this growth. Therefore, new types of batteries are in the research phase and intense research efforts continue to launch them in markets. One of them is metal-air batteries, particularly Li-air batteries which have enormous specific energy density due to the lithium metal anode. This redundancy can be made possible by the use of lithium metal in rechargeable metal-air batteries. Together with lithium metal, different types of electrocatalysts are used to provide charge/discharge reversibility. Carbonaceous, non-carbonaceous together with precious and non-precious materials are used as electrocatalysts in metal-air batteries. Of all the materials, one-dimensional electrocatalysts present easy electrode accessibility, fast electron transport, reduced ion diffusion, large surface area, and high porosity. This chapter reviews the use of one-dimensional metal-air electrocatalysts and presents brief information regarding the outputs such as specific capacity, C-rate capability, and cycle life.