We introduce a “gelating-cutting” strategy to improve specific areal capacity and cycle life for Li-O₂ cathode. Conventional Li-O₂ cathode with liquid electrolyte is gelated with highly elastic crosslinked polymer and cut into 50–200 µm granules. The gaps between the packed gel granules efficiently induce oxygen to the inner part of the cathode, leading to even Li₂O₂ growth in thick cathode. Meanwhile, the elasticity of the polymer chain helps to keep good contact between carbon and Li₂O₂ nanoparticles, which facilitates the electron transfer and improves the cyclability. Without any catalyst, the granular gel cathode is able to run 170 cycles at a fixed capacity of 1000 mA h g_carbon⁻¹, or maintains a specific capacity higher than 10,500 mA h g_carbon⁻¹ (12.6 mA h cm⁻²) during 11 cycles of full discharge-charge. Since good contact is the precondition to any electrochemical reaction, our strategy is a general way to enhance the performance of Li-O₂ cathodes.

我们引入了“胶凝切割”策略，以提高Li-O ₂阴极的比表面积和循环寿命。带有液体电解质的传统Li-O ₂阴极与高弹性交联聚合物胶凝并切成50-200 µm的颗粒。填充的凝胶颗粒之间的间隙有效地将氧气感应到阴极内部，从而导致在厚阴极中甚至均匀地生长Li ₂ O ₂。同时，聚合物链的弹性有助于保持碳与Li ₂ O ₂纳米粒子之间的良好接触，从而促进电子转移并改善循环性。在没有任何催化剂的情况下，颗粒状凝胶阴极能够以1000 mA h g的固定容量运行170个循环_碳^-1，或在11个完全放电充电周期内保持比电高于10,500 mA h g_碳^-1（12.6 mA h cm ^-2）的比容量。由于良好的接触是任何电化学反应的前提，因此我们的策略是提高Li-O ₂阴极性能的一般方法。