Singlet oxygen and dioxygen bond cleavage in the aprotic lithium-oxygen battery

Journal article

Investigation of lithium-oxygen cells on discharge using a mixture of ¹⁶O¹⁶O and ¹⁸O¹⁸O gases, showed that O–O bond cleavage occurs during disproportionation of LiO₂ to O₂ and Li₂O₂, detected by the presence of isotopic ¹⁶O¹⁸O. The formation of singlet oxygen, ¹O₂, was also monitored during disproportionation. While only 4.5% of oxygen was found to undergo bond cleavage and scrambling of oxygen atoms, more than 40% of the singlet oxygen produced during disproportionation came from the scrambling pathway, making it a major source of singlet oxygen generation in lithium-oxygen batteries. Our results demonstrate that Li₂O₂ formation occurs predominantly by disproportionation, and by controlling the pathway of this step, it may be possible to suppress ¹O₂ formation, a species that has been implicated in the degradation of lithium-oxygen batteries.

Authors: Dong, S; Yang, S; Chen, Y; Kuss, C; Cui, G

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Cell Press
• Journal: Joule
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 185-192
• Publication date: 2022-01-11
• Acceptance date: 2021-12-16
• DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2021.12.012
• EISSN: 2542-4351
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR