Porous Mo₃ P/Mo Nanorods as Efficient Mott-Schottky Cathode Catalysts for Low Polarization Li-CO₂ Battery

Li-CO₂ battery with high energy density has aroused great interest recently, large-scale applications are hindered by the limited cathode catalysis performance and execrably cycle performance. Herein, Mo₃ P/Mo Mott-Schottky heterojunction nanorod electrocatalyst with abundant porous structure is fabricated and served as cathodes for Li-CO₂ batteries. The Mo₃ P/Mo cathodes exhibit ultra-high discharge specific capacity of 10 577 mAh g^-1 , low polarization voltage of 0.15 V, and high energy efficiency of up to 94.7%. Mott-Schottky heterojunction formed by Mo and Mo₃ P drives electron transfer and optimizes the surface electronic structure, which is beneficial to accelerate the interface reaction kinetics. Distinctively, during the discharge process, the C₂ O₄ ^2- intermediates combine with Mo atoms to form a stable Mo-O coupling bridge on the catalyst surface, which effectively facilitate the formation and stabilization of Li₂ C₂ O₄ products. In addition, the construction of the Mo-O coupling bridge between the Mott-Schottky heterojunction and Li₂ C₂ O₄ promotes the reversible formation and decomposition of discharge products and optimizes the polarization performance of the Li-CO₂ battery. This work provides another pathway for the development of heterostructure engineering electrocatalysts for high-performance Li-CO₂ batteries.