Textile Inspired Lithium–Oxygen Battery Cathode with Decoupled Oxygen and Electrolyte Pathways

Abstract

The lithium–air (Li–O₂) battery has been deemed one of the most promising next-generation energy-storage devices due to its ultrahigh energy density. However, in conventional porous carbon–air cathodes, the oxygen gas and electrolyte often compete for transport pathways, which limit battery performance. Here, a novel textile-based air cathode is developed with a triple-phase structure to improve overall battery performance. The hierarchical structure of the conductive textile network leads to decoupled pathways for oxygen gas and electrolyte: oxygen flows through the woven mesh while the electrolyte diffuses along the textile fibers. Due to noncompetitive transport, the textile-based Li–O₂ cathode exhibits a high discharge capacity of 8.6 mAh cm⁻², a low overpotential of 1.15 V, and stable operation exceeding 50 cycles. The textile-based structure can be applied to a range of applications (fuel cells, water splitting, and redox flow batteries) that involve multiple phase reactions. The reported decoupled transport pathway design also spurs potential toward flexible/wearable Li–O₂ batteries.

A textile-based air cathode is developed with a triple-phase structure to improve Li–O₂ battery performance. The hierarchical structure of conductive textile network leads to decoupled pathways for oxygen and electrolyte. Due to noncompetitive transport, the textile-based Li–O₂ cathode exhibits a high capacity of 8.6 mAh cm⁻², a low overpotential of 1.15 V, and stable operation exceeding 50 cycles.

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