Silver decorated alpha-manganese oxide nanostructured electrocatalyst for rechargeable lithium–oxygen battery

•Ag/α-MnO2 was prepared by in-situ composite technique using polymeric additives.•Ag decorated α-MnO2 can improve discharge capacity and cycle life of Li–O2 battery.•Ag/α-MnO2 catalyst is a promising effective catalyst for Li–O2 battery.

Ag decorated α-MnO2 nanorods are studied as a cathode catalyst for rechargeable lithium–oxygen battery (LOB). The composites are synthesized by in-situ composite technique in the presence of polymeric additives and characterized by SEM, XPS, and FT-IR. The battery with Ag decorated α-MnO2 nanorod composite electrode shows an initial discharge capacity of 793 mA hg− 1(electrode), with reversible charge capacity of 778 mA hg− 1(electrode), while battery with only α-MnO2 has discharge capacity of 510 mA hg− 1(electrode) and charge capacity of 504 mA hg− 1(electrode). No Li2O or Li2O2 can be detected after discharge and Li2CO3 is the main discharge product, which suggests that the decomposition of organic carbonate electrolyte occurs during discharge.