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Novel Battery Cathode Design Inspired by Your Typical Cotton âTâ
Many battery researchers agree that the lithium air (Li-O2) battery is one of the most promising ‘next-gen’ energy storage devices available – more than ten times as powerful as the typical Li-ion battery due to its ultrahigh energy density. However, in conventional porous carbon air cathodes, the oxygen and electrolyte often compete for transport pathways, which limit Li-O2 battery performance. What’s more, this textile-based air cathode (made of a cotton-polyester blend) is incredibly flexible – “exhibiting remarkable, mechanical strength” – which means it could easily be utilized in wearable battery design. Many current research efforts have sought to improve lithium air battery performance via the use of solid state and hybrid electrolytes. “More stable cathode materials have been utilized to avoid side reactions associated with electrode decomposition; active heterogeneous catalysts have been introduced to improve the kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) during the charge/discharge processes; and redox mediators have enabled a solution-based reaction mechanism to resolve the insulating nature of the discharge products,” Dr. Xu continued. “Very few reports, however, discuss the effect of tuning cathode architecture. To our knowledge, this study is the first to use a decoupled oxygen/electrolyte pathway enabled by the unique textile structure, offering a new direction of Li-air battery research.” For additional information: S. Xu, Y. Yao, Y. Guo, X. Zeng, S. D. Lacey, H. Song, C. Chen, Y. Li, J. Dai, Y. Wang, Y. Chen,B. Liu, K. Fu, K. Amine, J. Lu, L. Hu. “Textile Inspired Lithium-Oxygen Battery Cathode with Decoupled Oxygen and Electrolyte Pathways.” Advanced Materials, 8Dec2017. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201704907
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