Oxygen cathode catalysts can significantly address the issues faced by Li-O₂ battery. In this research, a composite of IrO₂ nanoparticles grown in situ on BCN nanotubes (IrO₂@BCNNTs) has been synthesized by facile hydrothermal method, which is initially fabricated as cathode catalyst for Li−O₂ battery. The results indicate that IrO₂@BCNNTs nanocomposite has a better effect on improving the actual discharge capacity, voltage gap and cyclability of Li−O₂ battery. In addition, it is also demonstrated that the IrO₂@BCNNTs composite exhibits bifunctional characteristics for both the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) through rotating disk electrode (RDE) measurements. The excellent performances of the synthesized catalyst may be attributed to the unique interconnected tubular structure and strong synergistic effect, which can provide more charged sites and defect sites and then facilitate reversible Li₂O₂ formation and decomposition. Therefore, it is promising for applying the rational design of the bifunctional catalyst to Li−O₂ battery.

氧气阴极催化剂可以显着解决Li-O ₂电池面临的问题。在这项研究中，通过简便的水热法合成了在BCN纳米管上原位生长的IrO ₂纳米粒子的复合物（IrO ₂ @BCNNTs），该复合物最初被制造为Li-O ₂电池的阴极催化剂。结果表明，IrO ₂ @BCNNTs纳米复合材料对改善Li-O ₂电池的实际放电容量，电压间隙和循环能力具有更好的效果。另外，还证明了IrO ₂通过旋转圆盘电极（RDE）测量，@ BCNNTs复合材料对氧还原反应（ORR）和氧释放反应（OER）均显示出双功能特性。合成催化剂的优异性能可以归因于独特的相互连接的管状结构和强大的协同作用，可以提供更多的带电位点和缺陷位点，然后促进可逆的Li ₂ O _2的形成和分解。因此，有望将双功能催化剂的合理设计应用于Li-O ₂电池。