Construct heterostructures of MoO₃ nanorods modified with Fe₂O₃ rice grains to improve the performance of light-involved Li-O₂ battery

Light-involved Li-O₂ batteries have received widespread attention in recent years. However, slow reaction kinetics and high charge/discharge overpotentials at high current densities, as well as rapid recombination of photogenerated holes and electrons have hindered their further development. In this study, we propose a design strategy to grow Fe₂O₃ rice grains in situ on α-MoO₃ nanorods to fabricate heterostructures for Li-O₂ batteries at high current densities. The heterostructure α-MoO₃@Fe₂O₃ serves as dual-function cathode catalysts for light-involved Li-O₂ batteries by facilitating oxygen reduction/oxidation reactions and enhancing the separation of photogenerated charges, thereby effectively improving photoelectrocatalytic performance. Under light irradiation conditions, the heterostructure α-MoO₃@Fe₂O₃ exhibits low charge/discharge overpotential (0.99 V) while demonstrating good cycling stability (stable cycling for 120 cycles at a high current density of 0.5 mA cm⁻² with a fixed capacity of 0.5 mAh cm⁻²) and good rate performance, which significantly better than that was reported the currently popular light-involved Li-O₂ batteries under a high current density.