High specific energy of CuO as a thermal battery cathode

As the high specific energy and long working time of the thermal battery development requires the cathode that has high thermal stability and excellent conductivity. As a semiconductor, the microstructure of CuO keeps stability below 830C'. In this of case, the CuO has been first designed as the cathode material for thermal battery. With a cut-off voltage of 1.5 V, the specific energy of CuO thermal battery is up to 1040 Wh/kg under the working environment of 500C, 100 mA/cm2. That is higher than commercial FeS2 and CoS2 of 327 Wh/kg and 256 Wh/kg, respectively. We believe that our work will afford insights into the alternative of the cathode materials in the high specific energy thermal batteries.