The ORR and OER performances with and without illumination are studied to verify the discharge/charge reaction mechanisms for photo-assisted Li-O
2 batteries with Ov-TiO
2-650. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) curves for the Li-O
2 cells using Ov-TiO
2-650 catalyst at 0.5 mV/s with and without illumination are exhibited in
Fig. 4a and Fig. S11 (Supporting information). Compared with a cell without illumination, a higher onset reduction potential and a larger cathodic current are found for a cell under illumination. The rate capability of the Li-O
2 cells with Ov-TiO
2-650 from 50 mA/g to 1000 mA/g are studied, as shown in
Fig. 4b. The cell maintained a high discharge voltage (2.71 V) at a large current density of 1000 mA/g, which clearly exceed the cell without illumination (2.51 V at 1000 mA/g). These results indicate Ov-TiO
2-650 with a higher activity toward ORR under illumination, which could be attributed to the photogenerated electrons [
44,
45]. Additionally, the kinetic properties of Ov-TiO
2-650 with illumination during the charge process are assessed by executing a Li
2O
2 contained experiment. The preloaded Li
2O
2 cathodes are made based on the commercial Li
2O
2 and Ov-TiO
2-650.
Fig. 4c presents the linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) curves for the Li-O
2 batteries utilizing preloaded Li
2O
2 cathodes with and without illumination at a scan rate of 0.2 mV/s. It can be observed that both cells show the anodic peak related to decomposition of Li
2O
2 [
14]. Significantly, the anodic peak for the cell with illumination is higher than the cell without illumination, confirming that the Ov-TiO
2-650 is beneficial to promote the decomposition of Li
2O
2 under illumination, which are consistent with the CV results (Fig. S11). This impact is further demonstrated by the constant current charging, as shown in
Fig. 4d and Fig. S12 (Supporting information). The charge voltage of Li-O
2 batteries with preloaded Li
2O
2 are 3.34, 3.85, and 3.88 V at 100, 500, and 1000 mA/g, respectively with illumination, outperforming the cell without illumination. These results provide an evidence that the photo-assistance contributes to enhancing the reaction kinetics of Ov-TiO
2-650 in OER process, which could be contributed by the photogenerated holes [
46,
47]. In
Fig. 4e, based on above experimental results, the ORR and OER mechanisms for a photo-assisted Li-O
2 batteries with Ov-TiO
2-650 are proposed. The Ov-TiO
2-650 will promote the separation of electrons and holes under illumination. During discharge process, the photoexcited electrons are uniformly distributed on surface of Ov-TiO
2-650, which could accelerate the rate of LiO
2 generation, thus facilitating the growth of Li
2O
2. During charge process, the photogenerated electrons migrate to Li anode by external circuit due to the force of the electric field, leading to the reduction of Li
+ to Li and deposition on surface of Li anode [
48]. As a result, the photoexcited holes are separated to the surface of Ov-TiO
2-650, which helps to the decomposition of Li
2O
2 at a low charge voltage. Therefore, the Li-O
2 batteries with Ov-TiO
2-650 exhibit superior electrochemical performance with illumination, ascribing to appropriate a concentration of oxygen vacancies of Ov-TiO
2-650, which could provide a proper band gap and abundant active sites for the high efficiency separation of electrons and holes.