Strategies with Functional Materials in Tackling Instability Challenges of Non-aqueous Lithium-Oxygen Batteries

The instabilities of the battery including cathode corrosion/passivation, shuttling effect of the redox mediators, Li anode corrosion, and electrolyte decomposition are major barriers toward the practical implementation of lithium-oxygen(Li-O-2) batteries. Functional materials offer great potential in high performance Li-O-2 batteries owing to their functional tailorability of chemical modification for alleviating side reactions and improving catalysis activity, well-defined properties for discharge products storage, and fast mass and electron transfer paths. In this review, instability problems of non-aqueous Li-O-2 batteries and recent studies related to the functional materials in tackling the instability issues from rational cathode construction, inhibition of redox mediators(RMs) shuttling, anode protection and novel electrolyte design are illustrated. Future research directions to overcome the critical issues are also proposed for this promising battery technology. The instability issues and the related strategies with functional materials based on the comprehensive consideration of all battery components proposed in this review provide the systematic, deep understanding and rational design of functional materials for Li-O-2 batteries, which is beneficial to achieving the practical Li-O-2 batteries.