Hierarchical porous FeCo2O4@Ni as a carbon- and binder-free cathode for lithium−oxygen batteries

Abstract

The electrochemical performance of the lithium−oxygen (Li−O2) batteries largely depends on the material and architecture of the catalytic cathode. In this paper, to avoid the parasitic reactions of carbon and binder with discharge products and reaction intermediates, we proposed an effective design of a free-standing catalytic cathode for Li−O2 batteries. The FeCo2O4@Ni electrode consists of FeCo2O4 nanosheets grown directly on nickel (Ni) foam. The resultant hierarchical macroporous/mesoporous structure provides sufficient space for the insoluble discharge product Li2O2 and catalytically active sites for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Consequently, the carbon- and binder-free self-supporting electrode has demonstrated a high discharge capacity with relatively low charge overvoltage and a better cycle performance than the corresponding carbon-based electrodes.