Recent Progress on Stability Enhancement for Cathode in Rechargeable Non-Aqueous Lithium-Oxygen Battery

The pressing demand on the electronic vehicles with long driving range on a single charge has necessitated the development of next-generation high-energy-density batteries. Non-aqueous Li-O-2 batteries have received rapidly growing attention due to their higher theoretical energy densities compared to those of state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries. To make them practical for commercial applications, many critical issues must be overcome, including low round-trip efficiency and poor cycling stability, which are intimately connected to the problems resulting from cathode degradation during cycling. Encouragingly, during the past years, much effort has been devoted to enhancing the stability of the cathode using a variety of strategies and these have effectively surmounted the challenges derived from cathode deteriorations, thus endowing Li-O-2 batteries with significantly improved electrochemical performances. Here, a brief overview of the general development of Li-O-2 battery is presented. Then, critical issues relevant to the cathode instability are discussed and remarkable achievements in enhancing the cathode stability are highlighted. Finally, perspectives towards the development of next generation highly stable cathode are also discussed.