ATO is a carbon-free support material

During the entire recharge, 83018 ppm O2 evolved in the OEMS cell, which equals 32.9 μmol O2, whereas the pressure loss of 51 bar during discharge corresponds to 46.91 μmol O2. Consequently, only 70% of the O2 consumed during discharge is released upon charge. This is explained by parasitic reactions during discharge and charge: During discharge, only 86 ± 6% of the capacity and the consumed oxygen go into the formation of Li2O2 and Li2O, with 14 ± 6% oxygen being used up in side reactions. During charge, the gap between the O2 that should be generated by the decomposition of Li2O2 and Li2O and the O2 detected by OEMS is attributed to some oxygen being used up by the partial oxidation of the electrolyte. Towards the end of the charge (i.e., approaching SOC #3), only marginal amounts of CO2 start to evolve, indicating that Li2CO3 decomposition is negligible compared to what was observed for carbon cathodes. The integral gas evolution value of 700 ppm CO2 corresponds to only 0.3 μmol CO2 in total, which is drastically lower than the 1.45 μmol CO2 obtained in the case of Vulcan carbon. This aligns with ATR-IR spectra not showing appreciable Li2CO3 formation on the ATO surface. It is also plausible since ATO is a carbon-free support material, and Li2CO3 cannot be formed in the same way as in the case of Vulcan carbon electrodes. When charging beyond SOC #3, the charging curve reveals a severe drop in potential, and at the same time, the O2 evolution rate turns negative. This phenomenon has been observed before for the oxidation of composites of Pt/C catalyst with Li2O; after the complete oxidation of Li2O (verified by ex-situ ATR-FTIR), the potential also dropped rapidly. Unfortunately, the origin of this phenomenon with Pt/C and ATO in the present study is still unclear. If you are looking for high quality, high purity, and cost-effective ATO, or if you require the latest price of ATO, please feel free to email contact mis-asia.