Atomically Dispersed Ruthenium Catalysts with Open Hollow Structure for Lithium-Oxygen Batteries.

Lithium-oxygen battery with ultra-high theoretical energy density is considered a highly competitive next-generation energy storage device, but its practical application is severely hindered by issues such as difficult decomposition of discharge products at present. Here, we have developed N-doped carbon anchored atomically dispersed Ru sites cathode catalyst with open hollow structure (h-RuNC) for Lithium-oxygen battery. On one hand, the abundance of atomically dispersed Ru sites can effectively catalyze the formation and decomposition of discharge products, thereby greatly enhancing the redox kinetics.

Tunable Oxygen Vacancies of Cobalt Oxides in Lithium-Oxygen Batteries: Morphology Control of Discharge Product.

The discharge product LiO is difficult to decompose in lithium-oxygen batteries, resulting in poor reversibility and cycling stability of the battery, and the morphology of LiO has a great influence on its decomposition during the charging process. Therefore, reasonable design of the catalyst structure to improve the density of catalyst active sites and make LiO form a morphology which is easy to decompose in the charging process will help improve the performance of battery. Here, we demonstrate a series of hollow nanoboxes stacked by CoO nanoparticles with different sizes.

Terephthalic Acid Intercalated CoNi-LDH Materials for Improved Li-O Battery.

CoNi-LDH (layered CoNi double hydroxides) hollow nanocages with specific morphology are obtained by Ni ion etching of ZIF-67 (Zeolitic imidazolate framework-67). The structure of the layered materials is further modified by molecular intercalation. The original interlayer anions are replaced by the ion exchange effect of terephthalic acid, which helps to increase the interlayer distance of the material.

Crystal Phase Conversion on Cobalt Oxide: Stable Adsorption toward LiO for Film-Like Discharge Products Generation in Li-O Battery.

Regulating the structure and morphology of discharge product is one of the key points for developing high performance Li-O batteries (LOBs). In this study, the reaction mechanism of LOB is successfully controlled by the regulated fine structure of cobalt oxide through tuning the crystallization process. It is demonstrated that the cobalt oxide with lower crystallinity shows stronger affinity toward LiO , inducing the growth of film-like LiO on the electrode surface and inhibiting the further conversion to Li O .