Development of lithium-oxygen battery nanostructured electrodes facilitated by M13 virus and plant extract

Lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) batteries are a promising candidate for next-generation rechargeable battery systems due to their superior theoretical energy densities (11,586 W h Kg-1), which is near to those of gasoline (11,860 W h Kg-1). The principle of Li-O2 cell is relied on the formation of Li2O2 by the interaction between Li cations and oxygen (from the air) during discharge at the cathode surface and decomposition of Li2O2 upon charging. Therefore, the highly stable and reversible electrochemical reactions in Li-O2 cell is dependent on accelerating formation and decomposition of Li2O2. One solution to solve this issue is selecting an appropriate cathode catalyst with high porosity, good electronic conductivity, chemical stability, and high catalytic activity. In this thesis, our purpose is to develop novel efficient cathode materials for Li-O2 batteries using non-aqueous electrolytes by utilizing bio-inspired materials such as plant extract and M13 viruses. The M13 virus is a phage that infects bacteria but is harmless to humans and serves as a bio-template due to its unique morphology. Plant extracts are a rich source of bioactive chemicals. They have been demonstrated to be promising as reducing and capping agents for the biosynthesis of a variety of metal/metal oxide nanoparticles. Therefore, TiO2 nanoparticles with a cauliflower morphology were synthesized by using chamomile extract. Bio-TiO2 electrode containing 5 wt.% carbon black, showed a large overpotential and 30 stable cycles at the limited capacity of 500 mAhg-1. Therefore, to increase the cycle life of the Bio TiO2, a core-shell-like structure was formed with α-MnO2 as a shell, and the content of the carbon black was increased from 5 wt.% to 10 wt.%. The obtained TiO2/α-MnO2 showed 60 stable cycles at the limited capacity of 600 mAh g-1. However, 10 wt% carbon black caused the formation of by-products and limited the cycling behavior of the cathodes. As a result, to increase the electrical conductivity and catalytic activity of metal oxides without using carbon additives, the unique one-dimensional α-manganese oxide nanowires incorporated with ruthenium nanoparticles were constructed with the assistance of M13 bacteriophage. The virus templated Ru/α-MnO2 nanowires offered a high porosity and an extensive surface area as a cathode material. This cathode demonstrated a high capacity of 14,383 mAh g-1 with 48 stable cycles at a limited capacity of 1000 mAh g-1. In conclusion, these biosynthesis methods could provide an eco-friendly and cost-effective approach to develop high-performance battery electrodes. The design strategy manufactured in this thesis could be applied not only to batteries but also to other applications, which require nanoscale materials.