Cobalt carbonate hydroxide/carbon composite for lithium-oxygen battery cathode electrocatalyst

•The samples show nanowire morphology and strong interaction with carbon.•CCH/C-based cathode shows reduced overpotential and greater specific capacity.•The cell with CCH/C catalyst shffigows much prolonged cycle life.

Cobalt carbonate hydroxide (CCH) composited with XC-72R carbon was synthesized via a simple hydrothermal process. Transmission electron microscopes(TEM) shows that CCH with nanowire morphology is well dispersed in carbon medium. The CCH/C-based oxygen cathode exhibited low polarization with specific capacity of 3500 mA h g−1 at a current density of 0.05 mA cm−2 and prolonged cycling life. The cell with CCH/C catalyst can run for 55 cycles before the terminal potential of discharge declines to 2.0 V with a limited specific capacity of 500 mA h g−1. The improved performance was mainly attributed to the excellent OER activity of CCH/C that Li2O2 can be decomposed in lower potential, which might help avoid generation of undesirable byproducts.

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