Nanocatalysts in Lithium Oxygen Batteries

Lithium ion batteries are currently used in several areas of technology, including transport, portable electronics, medical devices, power tools, and storage of electricity produced by renewable sources like solar, wind, etc. With the increasing demand and usage of high-performance batteries in hybrid and electric cars, and more demanding electronic gadgets, the physical limits of the materials used in batteries are being tested. While these batteries deliver high energy density, they have limited cycle life and power density. Lithium oxygen (Li-O₂) batteries have attracted interest as energy storage devices due to their high energy and power density. The first non-aqueous Li-O₂ battery was developed using a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) polymer based electrolyte by Abraham in 1996 [1]. These batteries when used in electric vehicles will significantly increase the driving range thus revolutionizing the automobile industry. Li-O₂ batteries have high theoretical specific energy density of 11,140 Wh/kg and they can achieve four times higher energy density than the current lithium ion batteries [1,2].