Non-woven fabrics derived binder-free gas diffusion catalyst cathode for long cycle Li-O2 batteries

Lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) batteries with high theoretical energy density are well developed over the past decade, as the cycle performance and round-trip efficiency had enhanced prominently. However, there are still several obstacles that need to be tackled before commercial application. Among them, proper cathode structure design with low cost stands as a core problem. A Typical type of gas diffusion layer cathode are usually carbon paper, which is valuableness, meanwhile, cannot fit the application of flexible devices. In this work, non-woven fabrics were applied as basis materials to synthesis Fe3C/N-doped carbon tubes gas diffusion layer by a simple carbonization method. The resulting carbon cloth can be used directly as binder-free and current collector-free cathode for Li-O2 batteries. More than 130 stable cycles were achieved. The composite synthesized in this paper has the possibility for future application in flexible lithium-oxygen batteries and provide a new strategy for the recovery of non-woven fabrics.