Spinel MnCo₂O₄ nanospheres as an effective cathode electrocatalyst for rechargeable lithium-oxygen batteries

The air cathode is vital for lithium-oxygen batteries (LOBs) to achieve high performance, which will facilitate the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) during the discharge and charge processes. In this paper, MnCo₂O₄ nanospheres prepared through the hydroxide co-precipitation method are investigated as an effective electrocatalyst for the ORR and OER in non-aqueous LOBs. The results show that a non-aqueous LOB with the electrocatalyst exhibits an excellent discharge capacity of 8518 mA h g_cathode^-1 with a narrow voltage gap of 0.85 V between the discharge and charge plateaus at a current density 100 mA g_cathode^-1, and can deliver cycling stability over 20 cycles. This study shows that MnCo₂O₄ nanospheres can be a promising cathode electrocatalyst in rechargeable lithium-oxygen batteries due to its enhanced catalytic activity towards the ORR and OER.