Kang Inhan, Kim Sehun, Lee Su Min, Jeong Se Hyun, Ki Hyeong Ju, Lee Ui Jin, Ko Jae Hyung, Son Byung Jun, Kim Sungjin, Kang Jungwon
Department of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Mokpo National University 61 Dorim-ri, 1666 Yeongsan-ro, Cheonggye-myeon, Muan-gun 58554 Jeonnam South Korea
RSC Adv. 2025 Aug 11;15(35):28348-28357. doi: 10.1039/d5ra03545g.
The development of high-performance lithium-oxygen (Li-O) batteries is hindered by challenges including high overpotential and limited cycle life. In this paper, we report the cost-effective and scalable synthesis of a ZnO electrocatalyst directly integrated onto carbon paper a simple dipping and thermal treatment method. The resulting ZnO-on-carbon composite (ZnO on P50) was employed as the cathode in a non-aqueous Li-O battery. Comprehensive physicochemical characterizations, including XPS, FE-SEM, and TEM, confirmed the successful incorporation and uniform dispersion of ZnO nanoparticles within the carbon matrix. Electrochemical evaluations revealed that the ZnO-based cathode reduced overpotential during charge-discharge cycles and improved energy efficiency by approximately 6.3% over 40 cycles compared to pristine carbon paper (P50). XRD and SEM analyses further validated the formation and decomposition of LiO during cycling and suggested enhanced reaction uniformity owing to the catalytic role of ZnO. These findings demonstrate that -grown ZnO offers a promising, low-cost strategy for improving the energy efficiency of Li-O batteries.
高性能锂氧（Li - O）电池的发展受到诸如高过电位和有限循环寿命等挑战的阻碍。在本文中，我们报告了一种直接集成在碳纸上的ZnO电催化剂的经济高效且可扩展的合成方法——一种简单的浸渍和热处理方法。所得的碳载ZnO复合材料（P50上的ZnO）被用作非水Li - O电池的阴极。包括XPS、FE - SEM和TEM在内的综合物理化学表征证实了ZnO纳米颗粒在碳基质中的成功掺入和均匀分散。电化学评估表明，与原始碳纸（P50）相比，基于ZnO的阴极在充放电循环过程中降低了过电位，并在40个循环中提高了约6.3%的能量效率。XRD和SEM分析进一步验证了循环过程中LiO的形成和分解，并表明由于ZnO的催化作用，反应均匀性得到增强。这些发现表明，原位生长的ZnO为提高Li - O电池的能量效率提供了一种有前景的低成本策略。
