Advancing Lithium-Oxygen Battery Technology with an Iron-Nitrogen-Doped Mesoporous Core-Shell Carbon Cathode Loaded with Ruthenium(IV) Oxide Nanoparticles

An iron-nitrogen-doped core-shell mesoporous carbon support loaded with a RuO2 catalyst was used as a Li-O-2 cathode. Corrosion and degradation problems were avoided by doping carbon with iron and nitrogen. Well-dispersed RuO2 in the hierarchical porous structure facilitated a reversible nanoscale solid-phase reaction. At 2.0Ag(-1) (on the basis of catalyst plus carbon support), a capacity of 10Ahg(-1) was demonstrated with a discharge potential of 2.4V and a corresponding recharge potential of 3.6V. On the other hand, at 1.0Ag(-1), the discharge and recharge potentials are maintained at 2.5V and 3.5V, respectively, over 50 cycles.