Preparation of high-capacity air electrode for lithium-air batteries

The research of advanced and green energy is getting more and more attention because the status quo of the energy shortage and the environment pollution is worse and worse, lithium-air batteries are attracting considerable interest for their high theoretical specific energy and pollution-free. Nevertheless their performance is restricted by many factors, for instance the transfer tunnel for the oxygen is blocked by the discharge products and then the discharge is over ahead of time. In this paper we had prepared the air electrode with double-layer structure which is usually used in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) to increase the discharge capacity, the discharge special capacity of the air electrode could reach 6587 mAh/g of carbon at the rate of 0.15 mA/cm2.

► The related technologies of fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries are combined. ► The air electrode is prepared with double-layer structure. ► Carbon paper acts as gas diffusion layer and catalyst layer is prepared by spraying. ► The batteries obtained a high-capacity of 6587 mAh/gcarbon at the rate of 0.15 mA/cm2.