Preparation and performance of hierarchically porous carbons as oxygen electrodes for lithium oxygen batteries
(Key Laboratory of Environmentally Friendly Chemistry and Applications of Ministry of Education,
School of Chemistry, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, China)
School of Chemistry, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, China)
Abstract: The hierarchically porous carbons (HPCs) were prepared by sol-gel selassembly technology in different surfactant concentrations and were used as the potential electrode for lithium oxygen batteries. The physical and electrochemical properties of the as-prepared HPCs were investigated by filed emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherm and galvanostatic charge/discharge. The results indicate that all of the HPCs mainly possess mesoporous structure with nearly similar pore size distribution. Using the HPCs as the electrode, a high discharge capacity for lithium oxygen battery can be achieved, and the discharge capacity increases with the specific surface area. Especially, the HPCs-3 oxygen electrode with CTAB concentration of 0.27 mol/L exhibits good capacity retention through controlling discharge depth to 800 mA·h/g and the highest discharge capacity of 2050 mA·h/g at a rate of 0.1 mA/cm2.
Key words: lithium oxygen battery; hierarchically porous carbon; oxygen electrode; oxygen reduction