Construction of a novel high electrochemical performance nanosheet Co3O4@Fe2O3 bifunctional catalytic material for lithium-oxygen batteries

Abstract

Lithium-oxygen battery (LOB) has attracted wide attention owing to its high specific energy and environmental protection advantages. However, LOB also has many problems, such as the discharge products accumulated around the pore size to block the oxygen diffusion channel. In this work, a Co3O4@Fe2O3 nanosheet composite catalytic material is designed, which can effectively improve the electron transfer in the catalytic process. Furthermore, due to the electronic interaction between Co3O4 and Fe2O3 in the heterostructure region, the optimal active sites for the adsorption and activation of the reactant molecules can be obtained so as to produce better ORR/OER bifunctional catalytic activity. Besides that, the interface between Co3O4 and Fe2O3 can stimulate more electrons to participate in the redox reaction and promote the reversible formation and decomposition of Li2O2. When Co3O4@Fe2O3 nanosheet composite as cathode catalyst, LOB can achieve a high discharge specific capacity of 5585 mAh/g with 141 stable charge and discharge cycles.