Flower-like Nickel Sulfide As Efficient Electrocatalyst for Lithium Air Batteries

Lithium air batteries (Li-air batteries) can realize the reversible transport between chemical and electric energy by electrochemical reactions of lithium at the anode and air (O₂) at the cathode, respectively^1-3 and have ultrahigh theoretical specific energy (11140 Wh∙kg^-1 excluding oxygen and 3505 Wh∙kg^-1 if oxygen included)^3,4. Therefore, they have attracted the widespread concern of electric vehicle industry and the relevant researchers.

However, Li-air technology is still remained at an early stage of development at this moment. Many problems, such as low specific energy, low round-trip efficiency, poor cycling life and rate capability hinder the practical applications of Li-air battery technology^5,6. An efficient and stable cathode catalyst is one of most promising strategies to improve the performance of Li-air batteries^7,8.

In this work, a novel flower-like nickel sulfide was synthesized via hydrothermal method and used as the efficient electrocatalysts for cathode of Li-air batteries. The flower-like NiS is a promising candidate as an efficient electrocatalyst for non-aqueousrechargeable Li-air batteries due to its good performance.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the financial support of this work by the National Science Foundation of China (21176155 and 21476138).

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