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The discharge product Li 2 O 2 is difficult to decompose in lithium–oxygen batteries, resulting in poor reversibility and cycling stability of the battery, and the morphology of Li 2 O 2 has a great influence on its decomposition during the charging process. Therefore, reasonable design of the catalyst structure to improve the density of catalyst active sites and make Li 2 O 2 form a morphology which is easy to decompose in the charging process will help improve the performance of battery. Here, we demonstrate a series of hollow nanoboxes stacked by Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles with different sizes. The results show that the surface of the nanoboxes composed of smaller size Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles contains abundant pore structure and higher concentration of oxygen vacancies, which changes the adsorption energy of reactants and intermediates, providing more nucleation sites for Li 2 O 2, thereby forming Li 2 O 2 with high dispersion, which is easier to decompose during charging, and eventually improve the performance of the battery. This provides an important idea for the structural design of the cathode catalyst in lithium–oxygen batteries and the regulation of Li 2 O 2 morphology.
Zhang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.