| Lithium-ion batteries have been widely used in many electronic devices that are important to our daily life. However, after a steady improvement of some 10-15% during the last two decades, the energy density of lithium-ion batteries is now approaching its theoretical limit set by the energies of cathode and anode materials used in these batteries. Therefore, in recent years, the pursuit of the next generation of energy storage systems has been intense globally. | |
| One such system is metal/air batteries, which have much higher specific energies than most currently available primary and rechargeable batteries. | |
| "Metal/air batteries are unique in that the cathode active material is not stored in the battery" Dr. Ji-Guang Zhang, a researcher at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Transformational Materials Science Initiative, explains to Nanowerk. "Instead, oxygen from the environment is reduced by catalytic surfaces inside the air electrode, forming either an oxide or peroxide ion that further reacts with cationic species in the electrolyte. The Li/O2 couple is especially attractive because it has the potential for the highest specific energy among all the known electrochemical couples." |
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