Real-Time Imaging of the Electrochemical Process in Na-O2 Nanobatteries Using Pt@CNT and Pt0.8Ir0.2@CNT Air Cathodes

A Review of In-Situ Techniques for Probing Active Sites and Mechanisms of Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction Reactions

Electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is one of the most important reactions in electrochemical energy technologies such as fuel cells and metal-O2/air batteries, etc. However, the essential catalysts to overcome its slow reaction kinetic always undergo a complex dynamic evolution in the actual catalytic process, and the concomitant intermediates and catalytic products also occur continuous conversion and reconstruction. This makes them difficult to be accurately captured, making the identification of ORR active sites and the elucidation of ORR mechanisms difficult. Thus, it is necessary to use extensive in-situ characterization techniques to proceed the real-time monitoring of the catalyst structure and the evolution state of intermediates and products during ORR. This work reviews the major advances in the use of various in-situ techniques to characterize the catalytic processes of various catalysts. Specifically, the catalyst structure evolutions revealed directly by in-situ techniques are systematically summarized, such as phase, valence, electronic transfer, coordination, and spin states varies. In-situ revelation of intermediate adsorption/desorption behavior, and the real-time monitoring of the product nucleation, growth, and reconstruction evolution are equally emphasized in the discussion. Other interference factors, as well as in-situ signal assignment with the aid of theoretical calculations, are also covered. Finally, some major challenges and prospects of in-situ techniques for future catalysts research in the ORR process are proposed.

Metal-air batteries: progress and perspective

The metal-air batteries with the largest theoretical energy densities have been paid much more attention. However, metal-air batteries including Li-air/O₂, Li-CO₂, Na-air/O_2, and Zn-air/O₂ batteries, are complex systems that have their respective scientific problems, such as metal dendrite forming/deforming, the kinetics of redox mediators for oxygen reduction/evolution reactions, high overpotentials, desolution of CO₂, H₂O, etc. from the air and related side reactions on both anode and cathode. It should be the main direction to address these shortages to improve performance. Here, we summarized recently research progress in these metal-air/O₂ batteries. Some perspectives are also provided for these research fields.

Enhanced catalytic performance of pillared δ-MnO2 with enlarged layer spaces for lithium- and sodium-oxygen batteries: a theoretical investigation

Facing the challenge of increasingly severe environmental issues, many researchers are committed to seeking "post lithium-ion batteries" that can replace fossil fuels, one of which is alkali-metal-oxygen batteries. Nevertheless, the main bottleneck restricting the development of these batteries is the need for suitable catalysts to facilitate the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this study, we attempt to modify the catalytic performance of δ-MnO₂ for lithium- and sodium-oxygen batteries (LOBs and SOBs) by constructing 1,4-benzenedisulfonic acid, 2-chloro-1,4-benzenedisulfonic acid, and 2-fluoro-1,4-benzenedisulfonic acid pillared structures (H-, Cl-, and F-MnO₂). Their dynamic stability and catalytic mechanism have been explored by employing density functional theory (DFT). H-MnO₂ possesses a theoretical discharge voltage of 2.645 V for LOBs, which is 0.293 V larger than that of Cl-MnO₂. The discharge voltage of Cl-MnO₂ for SOBs is 3.152 V; however, H-MnO₂ impedes the formation of sodium superoxide and can hardly promote the ORR in SOBs. Both H- and Cl-MnO₂ can prevent the parasitic disproportionation reaction in LOBs and SOBs that produce active singlet oxygen through different reaction mechanisms. We believe that the constructed pillared structures are efficient ORR/OER catalysts for alkali-metal-oxygen batteries. Our research provides a theoretical basis for the micro-level mechanism of LOBs and SOBs catalyzed by the pillared δ-MnO₂ and sheds light on ameliorating the properties of the catalyst by constructing pillared structures.