Abstract
Despite their potential for high capacity, lithium oxygen (Li–O2) batteries still suffer from the low round-trip energy efficiency and limited cycle life, mainly due to the slow decomposition of discharge products. Therefore, developing efficient catalysts is a key issue for the practical application of Li-O2 batteries. Ruthenium oxide (RuO2) is one of the most efficient catalysts developed thus far for lithium-air batteries. However, the high price and limited availability of Ru prohibits its large-scale use in practical device fabrications. Recently, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has been actively investigated in various catalytic systems, taking advantage of its two-dimensional (2D) structure and catalytic activities. However, the low electrical conductivity of MoS2 limits the realization of fully operative MoS2-based catalysts on its own. In this report, RuO2-coated MoS2 nanosheets (RuO2/MoS2) are prepared and implemented as cathode catalysts for Li–O2 batteries. In this hybrid structure, RuO2 and MoS2 complement each other; the poor electrical conductivity of MoS2 is overcome by the nearly conformal coating of conducting RuO2, while 2D MoS2 nanosheets act as excellent supports for RuO2 catalysts and also contribute to the overall catalytic activities. These combined features result in excellent cathode performance, including improved efficiency and cycling lifetimes, with significantly reduced amounts of precious RuO2.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 642-649 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society |
Volume | 40 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Acknowledgments. This work was supported by the Human Resources Program in Energy Technology of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), granted financial resources from the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Republic of Korea (No. 20194010201890); S. -J. Park acknowledges the support from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (NRF-2018R1A2B3001049), and the Science Research Center funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (NRF-2017R1A5A105365). Y. J. Jang acknowledges the financial support by National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (grant numbers 2017R1A2A1A05022387). We acknowledge Prof. Dong Ha Kim for allowing us to use the facilities for this study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Korean Chemical Society, Seoul & Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Keywords
- Lithium-oxygen batteries
- Molybdenum disulfide (MoS)
- Solid catalysts