Biodegradable α-Chitin as a binder material for Li-O2 Battery

Abstract

High capacity Li-O2 batteries are of interest due to its exceptional theoretical energy density (3840 mAh/g) against the present Li-ion technology. To make Li-O2 cell more attractive secondary battery as future energy storage device, there are still number of drawbacks such as parasitic reaction on carbon cathodes, aprotic electrolyte decomposition, high over potential and low OER/ORR ratio. Although significant effort has been devote to develop the key materials such as a highly porous gold electrode, separators and organic electrolytes. Cathode binders are rarely studied because of their limited diversity. Here, we demonstrated the new type of biodegradable chitin material as a binder component for Li-O2 battery. The result clearly exhibited that the carbon cathode with chitin binder shows decent chemical stability toward oxygen species and exceptional electrochemical performances in Li-O2 battery.