Understanding the
Non-aqueous Lithium-airBattery
Stefan A. Freunberger1, Zhangquan Peng1,
Laurence J. Hardwick1,Yuhui Chen1,
Nicholas E. Drewett1, Fanny Barde2and
Peter G. Bruce1
1School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9SS, UK
2Toyota Motor Europe, Zaventum, Belgium
The lithium-air battery is generating a great deal of interest because theoretically itpossesses a specific energy 5-10 times that of a conventional Li-ion battery[1-4]. Specific energies and energy densities more than double those of today’s Li-ion batteries are required to extend the range of electric vehicles to 500 km and beyond. A typical non-aqueous lithium-air battery, widely reported in the literature, consists of a lithium anode, an alkyl carbonate based electrode, (e.g. LiPF6 in propylene carbonate) and a porous cathode (composed of carbon black, a catalyst and binder), Figure 1.On discharge, O2 from the atmosphere enters the porous cathode, where it is reduced forming a solid product that can be oxidised upon charging.
The Li-air battery is far from a practicaltechnology; there are many hurdles to be overcome if it is ever to realize, even in part, its potential as an energy storagedevice. Such hurdles include;the voltage gap (charging potential greater than discharge), cyclability, rate capability and lifetime [3, 5-9].
Although importantprogress has been made, it became clear that to tackle the hurdles it was necessary to understand the chemical and electrochemical reactions occurring within the cell [8, 10-12].
We shall discuss the results obtained from our studies of the reactions taking place in the cell, focussing especially on those associated with the cathode revealed through a combination of electrochemical, in and ex situ spectroscopic measurements.
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