Non-aqueous Li-air battery have been considered as one of the next generation lithium-based rechargeable battery. However, the instability issue of common organic electrolyte such as Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and ethers slow down the development of Li-air batteries toward the goals of commercialization. In this study, the use of common organic electrolyte was avoided by employing molten nitrates (Li,K)NO₃ as the electrolyte. Due to the elevated battery operating temperature (~150°C), an extremely low polarization (~30mV) was observed in the charging plateau. However, the coulombic efficiency of the battery cycling was only ranging from 60% to 80% caused by the significant amount of side reactions. This was attributed to the presence of contaminants such as residual moisture and...[ Read more ]

Non-aqueous Li-air battery have been considered as one of the next generation lithium-based rechargeable battery. However, the instability issue of common organic electrolyte such as Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and ethers slow down the development of Li-air batteries toward the goals of commercialization. In this study, the use of common organic electrolyte was avoided by employing molten nitrates (Li,K)NO₃ as the electrolyte. Due to the elevated battery operating temperature (~150°C), an extremely low polarization (~30mV) was observed in the charging plateau. However, the coulombic efficiency of the battery cycling was only ranging from 60% to 80% caused by the significant amount of side reactions. This was attributed to the presence of contaminants such as residual moisture and organic contaminations. Accumulation of the side products would compromise the durability of battery and energy efficiency. Further investigation on confirming the contamination effect should be conducted.