Hierarchical Mesoporous/Macroporous Perovskite La_0.5Sr_0.5CoO_3–x Nanotubes: A Bifunctional Catalyst with Enhanced Activity and Cycle Stability for Rechargeable Lithium Oxygen Batteries

Perovskites show excellent specific catalytic activity toward both oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline solutions; however, small surface areas of the perovskites synthesized by traditional sol–gel methods lead to low utilization of catalytic sites, which gives rise to poor Li–O₂ batteries performance and restricts their application. Herein, a hierarchical mesporous/macroporous perovskite La_0.5Sr_0.5CoO_3‑x (HPN-LSC) nanotube is developed to promote its application in Li–O₂ batteries. The HPN-LSC nanotubes were synthesized via electrospinning technique followed by postannealing. The as-prepared HPN-LSC catalyst exhibits outstanding intrinsic ORR and OER catalytic activity. The HPN-LSC/KB electrode displays excellent performance toward both discharge and charge processes for Li–O₂ batteries, which enhances the reversibility, the round-trip efficiency, and the capacity of resultant batteries. The synergy of high catalytic activity and hierarchical mesoporous/macroporous nanotubular structure results in the Li–O₂ batteries with good rate capability and excellent cycle stability of sustaining 50 cycles at a current density of 0.1 mA cm^–2 with an upper-limit capacity of 500 mAh g^–1. The results will benefit for the future development of high-performance Li–O₂ batteries using hierarchical mesoporous/macroporous nanostructured perovskite-type catalysts.