Carbon and binder free rechargeable Li-O2 battery cathode with Pt/Co3O4 flake arrays as catalyst

Pt nanoparticles modified Co3O4 flake arrays are prepared by an electrochemically assisted method and the subsequent cool sputtering, a carbon and binder free approach. When used as the cathode catalysts of Li-O-2 batteries, these porous films supply the O-2 transport adequate channels by the macropores surrounded by CO3O4 flakes, which endow the cathodes stable two-phase interface in discharge/charge processes. The superior ability of Pt catalyzing O-2 evolution leads the batteries showing a much lower overpotential (3.2 V) in charge process compared with those using pristine Co3O4 arrays as catalysts (4.0 V). The enhancement of decomposing the discharging precipitate promotes the Li-O-2 batteries' reversibility obviously, which realize more than 30 discharge/charge cycles. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.