Bifunctional Au–Pd decorated MnOx nanomembranes as cathode materials for Li–O2 batteries

Abstract

The search for new stable and efficient cathode materials for nonaqueous Li–O₂ batteries has become an urgent task to satisfy the ever-growing needs for high capacity and high energy efficiency. To circumvent above issues, we have designed and synthesized isolated Au and Pd decorated MnO_x nanomembranes, which act as bifunctional catalysts for Li–O₂ batteries with a high specific capacity of 3200 mA h g⁻¹ at 500 mA g⁻¹ which is 9.8 and 3.2 times that of Super P and bare MnO_x, respectively. In addition, with such novel structured catalysts, lithium ions, electrons and oxygen-containing intermediates can be rapidly transported, thus greatly improving the performance of Li–O₂ batteries by significantly lowering the polarization and extending the cycle life to 120 times. The encouraging electrochemical property of such Au–Pd decorated MnO_x nanomembranes leads to potential applications of the materials for high-performance Li–O₂ batteries.