Enhancing the performance of catalytic AuPt nanoparticles in nonaqueous lithium–oxygen batteries

Abstract

The deposition of catalytic AuPt (1 : 1) nanoparticles (NPs) into hollow mesoporous nitrogen-doped carbon microspheres (HMCMS) was found to significantly improve the effectiveness of the catalysis of oxygen reactions in nonaqueous lithium–oxygen batteries (LOBs); surpassing the performance of unsupported AuPt NPs or HMCMS in discharge and charge overpotentials (lower), specific capacity and rate performance (higher), and cycle life (longer). Specifically at a typical current density of 100 mA g⁻¹, a LOB with the AuPt/HMCMS cathode catalyst could provide discharge and charge capacities of 6028 and 6000 mA h g⁻¹ respectively and a charge–discharge voltage gap of only 1.27 V. The discharge capacity decreased by 5% when the current density was doubled, and by 23% when the current density was quintupled. The AuPt/HMCMS LOB could be cycled 75 times for a depth of discharge (DOD) of 1000 mA h g⁻¹ without exceeding the charge cut-off voltage of 4.4 V. These measurements indicate that the HMCMS is an outstanding catalyst support to use for increasing the effectiveness of oxygen electrocatalysts in the LOBs.