Efficacious Nitrogen Introduction Into Mos2 As Bifunctional Electrocatalysts For Long-Life Li-O-2 Batteries

Defect engineering has been an efficient means to govern the electrocatalytic performances of oxygen electrode in Li-O-2 batteries. Herein, we introduce N atoms into MoS2 for manufacturing sulfur vacancies to improve the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics of rechargeable Li-O-2 batteries. The obtained results show that N doping opened the crystal distance space of N-MoS2, reduced the charge transfer resistance and simultaneously induces Mo-N bonds and a large number of sulfur vacancies. The assembled Li-O-2 batteries with N-MoS2 as the cathode electrocatalyst deliver discharge specific capacity of 5205.5 mAh g(-1) at the current density of 100 mA g(-1), which is much higher than the MoS2 (2600.3 mAh g(-1)). It also shows excellent cyclic performance with 224 cycles at the current density of 200 mA g(-1) within a capacity limitation of 1000 mAh g(-1). Overall, the as-developed N-MoS2 could be regarded as a promising cathode electrocatalyst for Li-O-2 batteries. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.