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Recycling Application of Li–MnO 2 Batteries as Rechargeable Lithium–Air Batteries
Author(s) -
Hu Yuxiang,
Zhang Tianran,
Cheng Fangyi,
Zhao Qing,
Han Xiaopeng,
Chen Jun
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201411626
Subject(s) - manganese , lithium (medication) , oxygen , oxygen evolution , materials science , electrode , catalysis , valence (chemistry) , chemistry , chemical engineering , inorganic chemistry , electrochemistry , metallurgy , organic chemistry , medicine , engineering , endocrinology
The ever‐increasing consumption of a huge quantity of lithium batteries, for example, Li–MnO 2 cells, raises critical concern about their recycling. We demonstrate herein that decayed Li–MnO 2 cells can be further utilized as rechargeable lithium–air cells with admitted oxygen. We further investigated the effects of lithiated manganese dioxide on the electrocatalytic properties of oxygen‐reduction and oxygen‐evolution reactions (ORR/OER). The catalytic activity was found to be correlated with the composition of Li x MnO 2 electrodes (0< x <1) generated in situ in aprotic Li–MnO 2 cells owing to tuning of the Mn valence and electronic structure. In particular, modestly lithiated Li 0.50 MnO 2 exhibited superior performance with enhanced round‐trip efficiency (ca. 76 %), high cycling ability (190 cycles), and high discharge capacity (10 823 mA h g carbon −1 ). The results indicate that the use of depleted Li–MnO 2 batteries can be prolonged by their application as rechargeable lithium–air batteries.