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The present study explored a new method to improve the catalytic activity of non-precious metals, especially in electrochemical reactions. Highly ionized Fe plasma produced by arc discharge was uniformly deposited on a porous carbon substrate and formed atomic clusters on the carbon surface. The as-prepared FeOx/C material was tested as a cathode material in a rechargeable Li–O2 battery under different current rates. The results showed significant improvement in battery performance in terms of both cycle life and reaction rate. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results showed that the as-prepared cathode material stabilized the cathode and reduced side reactions and that the current rate was a critical factor in the nucleation of the discharge products.
This project was supported by the US Department of Energy under contract (No. DE-AC0206CH11357) from the Vehicle Technologies Office, Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Use of the Advanced Photon Source and the Electron Microscopy Center-Center for Nanoscale Materials supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under contract (No. DE-AC0206CH11357).
X. L. and J. L. designed the experiments; E. S. synthesized the cathode materials; L. M. and T. W. performed and analyzed the XANES experiments; X. L., J. W., and D. J. M. performed and analyzed the SEM and TEM imaging experiments; X. L., D. Q., and Y. X. tested the cathode materials; X. L. and Y. R. performed and analyzed the XRD experiments; X. L. performed and analyzed the Raman experiments; J. L. and K. A. supervised the project; X. L. wrote the paper. All of the authors discussed the results and reviewed the manuscript.