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Nano Research 2023, 16(6): 8405-8410 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-5300-8
Research Article | Issue | Published: 13 December 2022

Designing a photo-assisted Co-C3N4 cathode for high performance Li-O2 batteries

Show Author's Information Renfei Cao1,2,  Yangfeng Cui1,2,  Gang Huang2,  Wanqiang Liu1( ),  Jianwei Liu1,2( ),  Xinbo Zhang2( )
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun 130022, China
State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
Keywords:
photocatalysis, Li-O2 batteries, low overpotential, lithium peroxide, Co-doped C3N4 (Co-C3N4)
Topics:
Air batteries
Cite this article:
Cao R, Cui Y, Huang G, et al. Designing a photo-assisted Co-C3N4 cathode for high performance Li-O2 batteries. Nano Research, 2023, 16(6): 8405-8410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-5300-8
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Li-O2 batteries with extremely high specific energy density have been regarded as a kind of promising successor to current Li-ion batteries. However, the high charge overpotential for the decomposition of Li2O2 discharge product reduces the energy efficiency and triggers a series of side reactions that cause the Li-O2 batteries to have a limited lifetime. Herein, Co-doped C3N4 (Co-C3N4) photocatalysts were designed by an in situ thermal evaporation method to take advantage of the photo-assisted charging technology to conquer the shortcomings of Li-O2 batteries encountered in the charge process. Different from the commonly used photocatalysts, the Co-C3N4 photocatalysts perform well no matter with and without illumination, owing to the Co doping induced conductivity and electrocatalytic ability enhancement. This makes the Co-C3N4 reduce the charge and discharge overpotentials and improve the cycling performance of Li-O2 batteries (from 20 to 106 cycles) without illumination. While introducing illumination, the performance can be further improved: Charge voltage reduces to 3.3 V, and the energy efficiency increases to 84.84%, indicating that the Co-C3N4 could behave as a suitable photocathode for Li-O2 batteries. Besides, the low charge voltage and the continuous illumination together weaken the corrosion of the Li anode, making the long-term high-efficiency operation of Li-O2 batteries no longer just extravagant hope.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Designing a photo-assisted Co-C3N4 cathode for high performance Li-O2 batteries

Show Author's information Renfei Cao1,2, Yangfeng Cui1,2, Gang Huang2, Wanqiang Liu1( ), Jianwei Liu1,2( ), Xinbo Zhang2( )
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun 130022, China
State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China

Abstract

Li-O2 batteries with extremely high specific energy density have been regarded as a kind of promising successor to current Li-ion batteries. However, the high charge overpotential for the decomposition of Li2O2 discharge product reduces the energy efficiency and triggers a series of side reactions that cause the Li-O2 batteries to have a limited lifetime. Herein, Co-doped C3N4 (Co-C3N4) photocatalysts were designed by an in situ thermal evaporation method to take advantage of the photo-assisted charging technology to conquer the shortcomings of Li-O2 batteries encountered in the charge process. Different from the commonly used photocatalysts, the Co-C3N4 photocatalysts perform well no matter with and without illumination, owing to the Co doping induced conductivity and electrocatalytic ability enhancement. This makes the Co-C3N4 reduce the charge and discharge overpotentials and improve the cycling performance of Li-O2 batteries (from 20 to 106 cycles) without illumination. While introducing illumination, the performance can be further improved: Charge voltage reduces to 3.3 V, and the energy efficiency increases to 84.84%, indicating that the Co-C3N4 could behave as a suitable photocathode for Li-O2 batteries. Besides, the low charge voltage and the continuous illumination together weaken the corrosion of the Li anode, making the long-term high-efficiency operation of Li-O2 batteries no longer just extravagant hope.

Keywords: photocatalysis, Li-O2 batteries, low overpotential, lithium peroxide, Co-doped C3N4 (Co-C3N4)

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 18 September 2022
Revised: 02 November 2022
Accepted: 06 November 2022
Published: 13 December 2022
Issue date: June 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the supports from the National Key Research and Development (R&D) Program of China (No. 2017YFE0198100), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21725103), Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. ZDRW-CN-2021-3), Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 2020230), and Changchun Science and Technology Development Plan Funding Project (No. 21ZY06).

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