The Effect of the Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Additives in Carbon Electrode for Lithium-Air Battery

Lithium-air batteries(LAB) utilize oxygen from the air as a cathode active material and pure metal lithium as an anode. Recently, LAB have attracted much interest due to their high theoretical energy density over lithium-ion batteries. However, most of the R&Ds are in their early stages. The main obstacle of LAB for real-life application is cathode, which commonly use carbon materials such as super-P, carbon black. Super-P, among the carbonaceous cathode materials for LAB, reported good performances in specific energy density because of its unique meso porous structure. In this study, the effect of the transition metal dichalcogenide(TMDC) additives in carbon electrode on th electrochemical performances of LAB is evaluated. On a LAB during discharge, the lithium in the anode is oxidized to lithium ions(Li + ). Li + are transported through the electrolyte to catode and react with oxygen. The oxygen combines with metal ions from TMDC, that prevent generating of lithium Oxide(Li 2 O) and lithium peroxide(Li 2 O 2 ) in the cathode. In this research, TMDC additives(e.g. MoS 2 , WS 2 ) in carbon black cathode were prepared and then assembled into coin cell(CR2032). The discharge performances according to the weight percentage of TMDC in carbon black were investigated. Microstucture and electrochemical characteristics of the discharged cathode and pristine cathode were analyzed by XRD,SEM and EDS.