Rechargeable
lithium–oxygen batteries (LOBs) have attracted
increasing attention due to their high energy density but highly rely
on the development of efficient oxygen catalysts for reversible Li2O2 deposition/decomposition. Herein, highly porous
carbon nanocubes with a specific surface area up to 1600 m2 g–1 are synthesized and utilized to tightly anchor
Ru nanoparticles for using as the oxygen-cathode catalyst in LOBs,
achieving a low charge/discharge potential gap of only 0.75 V, a high
total discharge capacity of 17,632 mA h g–1, and
a superb cycling performance of 550 cycles at 1000 mA g–1. Comprehensive ex situ and operando characterizations unravel that
the outstanding LOB performance is ascribed to the highly porous catalyst
structure embedding rich active sites that synergistically function
in reducing overpotentials, suppressing parasitic reactions, accommodating
reaction products, and promoting mass and charge transportation.