Synergistic nanoarchitecture of mesoporous carbon and carbon nanotubes for lithium\u2013oxygen batteries

Yeongsu Kim,Jong-Won Lee,Kyu-Nam Jung,Hyun-Seop Shin,Jonghyeok Yun

doi:10.1186/s40580-021-00268-5

Abstract

A rechargeable lithium–oxygen battery (LOB) operates via the electrochemical formation and decomposition of solid-state Li2O2 on the cathode. The rational design of the cathode nanoarchitectures is thus required to realize high-energy-density and long-cycling LOBs. Here, we propose a cathode nanoarchitecture for LOBs, which is composed of mesoporous carbon (MPC) integrated with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The proposed design has the advantages of the two components. MPC provides sufficient active sites for the electrochemical reactions and free space for Li2O2 storage, while CNT forests serve as conductive pathways for electron and offer additional reaction sites. Results show that the synergistic architecture of MPC and CNTs leads to improvements in the capacity (~ 18,400 mAh g− 1), rate capability, and cyclability (~ 200 cycles) of the CNT-integrated MPC cathode in comparison with MPC.

Highlights

Extensive efforts have been devoted for the development of high-energy-density batteries that came along with the explosive market expansion of electric vehicles (EVs) [1, 2]
The cathode is a key component of lithium–oxygen battery (LOB) that provides active sites to facilitate electrochemical reactions and accommodate solid discharge products (Li2O2 or Li2CO3) [10,11,12,13,14,15]
As a cathode for LOBs, this nanostrucutre provides the adavtantages of both mesoporous carbon (MPC) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs)

Summary

Introduction

Extensive efforts have been devoted for the development of high-energy-density batteries that came along with the explosive market expansion of electric vehicles (EVs) [1, 2]. The cathode is a key component of LOBs that provides active sites to facilitate electrochemical reactions and accommodate solid discharge products (Li2O2 or Li2CO3) [10,11,12,13,14,15]. Nanostructured porous carbon materials have attracted significant attention as promising cathodes for LOBs owing to their unique architectures, as they can offer sufficient pore volume for oxygen transport and Li2O2 storage, and have the high surface areas with many electrochemical active sites for oxygen reactions [3, 11, 16,17,18,19].

Results

Conclusion