Open AccessSurface plasmon mediates the visible light–responsive lithium–oxygen battery with Au nanoparticles on defective carbon nitride
Author(s) -
Zhuo Zhu,
Youxuan Ni,
Qingliang Lv,
Jiarun Geng,
Wei Xie,
Fujun Li,
Jun Chen
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2024619118
Subject(s) - materials science , bifunctional , nanoparticle , lithium (medication) , battery (electricity) , plasmon , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , photochemistry , chemistry , catalysis , medicine , biochemistry , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics , endocrinology
Significance Deployment of electric vehicles with long driving ranges demands new electrochemistry beyond the current Li-ion batteries. Aprotic lithium–oxygen batteries have gained considerable attention and promise to provide energy density of approximately three to five times that of state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries, but they are plagued by sluggish reaction kinetics at cathodes and induced large-voltage hysteresis. A photo-mediated strategy has been attempted to reduce the discharge/charge overvoltage, but it is obstructed by the limited ultraviolet light absorption and the inevitably high carrier recombination on semiconductor photocathodes. Here, a plasmonic heterojunction of gold nanoparticle-decorated carbon nitride with nitrogen vacancies is used as a bifunctional catalyst to accelerate the oxygen cathode reactions of the lithium–oxygen battery under visible light.