Designing Ag@NiO as Air Electrode Catalysts with Synergistic Interface and Doping Engineering Strategies for High-Performance Lithium–Oxygen Batteries

Li–O2 batteries with higher energy density are recognized as promising next-generation energy storage devices. However, sluggish oxygen redox kinetics leads to large overpotential and poor cycle performance which restrict the practical application of Li–O2 batteries. In this work, we successfully prepare Ag@NiO via the interface and doping synergistic effect engineering strategy as a highly efficient air electrode catalyst to accelerate electrochemical reactions during the oxygen reduction reaction and oxygen evolution reaction procedure in lithium–oxygen batteries. The interface binding between Ag and NiO can be strengthened by generating Ag nanoparticles on the surface of NiO, and the electronic structure can be regulated after doping Ag+, which offers more active sites and high conductivity to boost the catalytic activity. Therefore, Ag@NiO as an efficient air electrode catalyst for Li–O2 batteries exhibits superior electrochemical performance. This means that the interface and doping synergistic effect engineering strategy boosts the oxygen redox kinetics which opens up new paths for highly efficient air electrode catalysts of Li–O2 batteries.