title: Carbon-, binder-, and precious metal-free cathodes for non-aqueous lithium-oxygen batteries: nanoflake-decorated nanoneedle oxide arrays.
abstract: Rechargeable lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) batteries have higher theoretical energy densities than today's lithium-ion batteries and are consequently considered to be an attractive energy storage technology to enable long-range electric vehicles. The main constituents comprising a cathode of a lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) battery, such as carbon and binders, suffer from irreversible decomposition, leading to significant performance degradation. Here, carbon- and binder-free cathodes based on nonprecious metal oxides are designed and fabricated for Li-O2 batteries. A novel structure of the oxide-only cathode having a high porosity and a large surface area is proposed that consists of numerous one-dimensional nanoneedle arrays decorated with thin nanoflakes. These oxide-only cathodes with the tailored architecture show high specific capacities and remarkably reduced charge potentials (in comparison with a carbon-only cathode) as well as excellent cyclability (250 cycles).
authors.affiliation: New and Renewable Energy Research Division and ‡Energy Efficiency and Materials Research Division, Korea Institute of Energy Research , 152 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-343, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ahmer
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Riaz
authors.forename: Kyu-Nam
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Wonyoung
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Kyung-Hee
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Jong-Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: carbon; cyclability; lithium−oxygen battery; metal oxide array; nanoarchitecture