On the Mechanism of Nonaqueous Li–O2 Electrochemistry on C and Its Kinetic Overpotentials: Some Implications for Li–Air Batteries

Quantitative differential electrochemical mass spectrometry and cyclic voltammetry have been combined to probe possible mechanisms and the kinetic overpotentials, responsible for discharge and charge in a Li–O2 battery, using C as the cathode and an electrolyte based on dimethoxyethane as the solvent. Previous spectroscopy experiments (X-ray diffraction, μRaman, IR, XPS) have shown that Li2O2 is the principle product formed during Li–O2 discharge using this electrolyte/cathode combination. At all discharge potentials and charge potentials 4.0 V, the electrochemistry requires significantly more than 2e–/O2, and we take this as evidence for electrolyte decomposition. We find that sequential...

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