Lithium–air batteries are considered to be a potential alternative to lithium-ion batteries for transportation applications, owing to their high theoretical specific energy. So far, however, such systems have been largely restricted to pure oxygen environments (lithium–oxygen batteries) and have a limited cycle life owing to side reactions involving the cathode, anode and electrolyte. In the presence of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapour, these side reactions can become even more complex. Moreover, because of the need to store oxygen, the volumetric energy densities of lithium–oxygen systems may be too small for practical applications. Here we report a system comprising a lithium carbonate-based protected anode, a molybdenum disulfide cathode and an ionic liquid/dimethyl sulfoxide electrolyte that operates as a lithium–air battery in a simulated air atmosphere with a long cycle life of up to 700 cycles. We perform computational studies to provide insight into the operation of the system in this environment. This demonstration of a lithium–oxygen battery with a long cycle life in an air-like atmosphere is an important step towards the development of this field beyond lithium-ion technology, with a possibility to obtain much higher specific energy densities than for conventional lithium-ion batteries.

中文翻译：

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在类空气环境中具有长循环寿命的锂氧电池

由于理论比能量高，锂空气电池被认为是交通应用中锂离子电池的潜在替代品。然而，到目前为止，这种系统在很大程度上仅限于纯氧环境（锂氧电池），并且由于涉及阴极、阳极和电解质的副反应，循环寿命有限。在氮气、二氧化碳和水蒸气存在的情况下，这些副反应会变得更加复杂。此外，由于需要储存氧气，锂-氧系统的体积能量密度可能太小而无法实际应用。在这里，我们报告了一个包含基于碳酸锂的受保护阳极的系统，二硫化钼阴极和离子液体/二甲基亚砜电解质，可在模拟空气气氛中作为锂空气电池运行，循环寿命长达 700 次。我们进行计算研究，以深入了解系统在此环境中的运行情况。这种在类空气环境中具有长循环寿命的锂氧电池的演示是朝着超越锂离子技术发展该领域迈出的重要一步，有可能获得比传统锂电池更高的比能量密度离子电池。