Tailored Plasmonic Ru/OV-MoO2 on TiO2 Catalysts via Solid-Phase Interface Engineering: Toward Highly Efficient Photoassisted Li-O2 Batteries with Enhanced Cycling Reliability

Zhichao Xue; Zhizhe Wang; Qiang Li; Dandan Wang; Lei Xiang; Zhihong Mai; Peng Du; Hong Sun; Guozhong Xing

doi:10.1021/acsami.2c08834

Tailored Plasmonic Ru/O_V-MoO₂ on TiO₂ Catalysts via Solid-Phase Interface Engineering: Toward Highly Efficient Photoassisted Li-O₂ Batteries with Enhanced Cycling Reliability

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Oct 5;14(39):44251-44260. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c08834. Epub 2022 Sep 20.

Authors

Zhichao Xue¹, Zhizhe Wang², Qiang Li², Dandan Wang³, Lei Xiang³, Zhihong Mai³, Peng Du⁴, Hong Sun², Guozhong Xing^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ School of Science, Shenyang Jianzhu University, Shenyang 110168, P. R. China.
² School of Mechanical Engineering, Shenyang Jianzhu University, Shenyang 110168, P. R. China.
³ Hubei JiuFengShan Laboratory, Wuhan, Hubei 420000, P. R. China.
⁴ Department of Microelectronic Science and Engineering, School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, Zhejiang, P. R. China.
⁵ Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China.
⁶ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.

PMID: 36126181
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c08834

Abstract

The photoassisted electrochemical reactions are considered an effective method to reduce the overpotential of Li-O₂ batteries. However, achieving long-term cell cycling stability remains a challenge. Here, we report a solid-phase interfacial reaction (SPIR) strategy that introduces both oxygen vacancies (O_V) and metal centers (Ru) into the MoO₂ to synthesize the surface plasmon (i.e., Ru/O_V-MoO₂). Then, Ru/O_V-MoO₂ can be uniformly loaded on the TiO₂ nanowires by the hydrothermal method. The plasma effect of Ru/O_V-MoO₂ demonstrates the effective reduction of the photoexcited electron and hole recombination to improve visible light-harvesting ability. The lifetime of electrons and holes can be extended by Ru nanoparticles, which is beneficial for promoting the formation and decomposition of Li₂O₂. In addition, the generated O_V further enhanced the migration of electrons and Li⁺, thus improving the ORR performance. The Ru/O_V-MT/CC cathode corroborates excellent stability and catalytic performance in the photoassisted Li-O₂ battery, with an overpotential value of 0.47 V, achieving the highest energy efficiency of 93.94%, retaining at 89.13% after 800 h. This work offers a platform for preparing a stable, bifunctional catalyst with the high total activity of a photoassisted Li-O₂ battery.

Keywords: Li−O2 batteries; metallic MoO2; oxygen vacancies; solid-phase interface reaction; surface plasmon.