Cesium Lead Bromide Perovskite-Based Lithium-Oxygen Batteries

The main challenge for lithium-oxygen (Li-O₂) batteries is their sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics and high charge overpotentials caused by the poorly conductive discharge products of lithium peroxide (Li₂O₂). In this contribution, the cesium lead bromide perovskite (CsPbBr₃) nanocrystals were first employed as a high-performance cathode for Li-O₂ batteries. The battery with a CsPbBr₃ cathode can exhibit the lowest charge overpotential of 0.5 V and the best cycling performance of 400 cycles among all the reported perovskite-based Li-O₂ cells, which represents a new benchmark. Most importantly, the density functional theory (DFT) calculations further prove that the rate limitation step during OER processes is the decomposition of LiO₂ to form O₂ and Li⁺, and the weak adsorption strength between CsPbBr₃ surfaces and LiO₂ results in a low charge overpotential for the CsPbBr₃-based Li-O₂ battery. This work first demonstrates the good potential of CsPbBr₃ for application in metal-air batteries.