Homologous heterostructure of MoS <sub>2</sub> and MoO <sub>2</sub> coupled with carbon layers as cathode catalyst for rechargeable lithium–oxygen batteries
Yiming Zhang, Zhaorui Zhou, Lanling Zhao, Yebing Li, Ruifeng Li, Ya Zhou, Sana Shoukat, Abulgasim-Ahmed-Abbaker Adam, Jun Wang
Abstract
Lithium–oxygen batteries tend to experience high overpotentials because of the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction and oxygen evolution reaction during cycling. A potential solution to address this issue is to develop an advanced cathode to accelerate the reaction kinetics during the electrochemical process. In the present work, an efficient electrocatalyst based on a homologous heterostructure combining MoO 2 and MoS 2 with robust carbon layers into a sphere structure was synthesized to facilitate charge transfer for reaction intermediates, resulting in exceptional performance in lithium–oxygen batteries. Further investigation into the formation and decomposition of Li 2 O 2 provides evidence of the reversibility of lithium–oxygen battery with the heterostructred cathode. This configuration provides a sound approach to integrate different functional catalysts into a homologous heterostructure to perfect the performance of lithium–oxygen batteries.