Stable Electrochemistry in Waste-Tire-Derived Carbon Black for High Capacity Metal-Oxygen (M-O) Batteries

Abstract

The rechargeable alkali metal based oxygen (Li-O2 and Na-O2) batteries are of interest not only due to their ultra-high capacity against the present Li-ion secondary batteries but also due to its potential application for long range electric vehicle. In order to get satisfied capacity with reversible electrochemistry in metal-O2 batteries, the components such as electrolyte and cathode are of prime importance for operating without significant alternation. However, previous studies clearly showed that the performance of metal-O2 batteries is deteriorated by carbon cathodes because of its unstable surface against discharge products of lithium peroxide (sodium superoxide for Na-O2 battery). This unstable carbon surface is one of the urgent issues in the field of metal oxygen batteries. The problem should be overcome for making reliable metal-O2 batteries. Here, we represent the metal-O2 batteries based on waste-tire derived carbon black cathode. The well controlled carbon surface from waste-tire allows us to make highly stable electrochemistry with long life cycle in both Li-O2 and Na-O2 batteries. The decent battery performance is evidenced by galvanostatic discharge/charge measurement, XPS analysis and in-situ gas evaluation with home-built differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS).