The electrochemical performance of La0.6Sr0.4Co1-xNixO3 perovskite catalysts for Li-O2 batteries

Ni doped perovskite oxides La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 1- x Ni x O 3 ( x = 0, 0.05, 0.1) have been synthesized by a dry gel combustion method using citric acid and EDTA (ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid) as complex agent. The Li-O 2 batteries on the basis of the La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 1- x Ni x O 3 perovskite nanoparticles and non-aqueous electrolytes were also fabricated and measured. The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity of as-prepared electrodes were measured by cyclic voltammetry (CV) curves. The peak current increased in the order of pure Super P, La 0.6 Sr 0.4 CoO 3 , La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.95 Ni 0.05 O 3 , and La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.9 Ni 0.1 O 3 . The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements revealed that La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 1- x Ni x O 3 catalyst could restrain the increase of impedance during discharge process and promote the decomposition of discharge products during charge process. La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.95 Ni 0.05 O 3 and La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.9 Ni 0.1 O 3 catalysts displayed enhanced performances compared with La 0.6 Sr 0.4 CoO 3 catalyst. The initial capacity of batteries using La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.95 Ni 0.05 O 3 and La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.9 Ni 0.1 O 3 as the cathode catalyst displayed enhanced performances compared with La 0.6 Sr 0.4 CoO 3 catalyst, which was in agreement with the trend of CV curves.