The lithium-air battery is a new type of high-capacity lithium-ion battery developed by the Japan Industrial Technology Research Institute and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). The battery uses lithium metal as the negative electrode, oxygen in the air as the positive electrode, and the electrodes are separated by a solid electrolyte; the negative electrode uses an organic electrolyte; and the positive electrode uses an aqueous electrolyte.

During discharge, the negative electrode is dissolved in the organic electrolyte in the form of lithium ions, and then migrates through the solid electrolyte to the aqueous electrolyte of the positive electrode; electrons are transmitted to the positive electrode through the wire, and oxygen and water in the air react on the surface of the fine carbonized carbon. Hydrogen peroxide is formed and combined with lithium ions in an aqueous electrolyte solution of the positive electrode to form water-soluble lithium hydroxide. When charging, electrons are transmitted to the negative electrode through a wire, and lithium ions pass through the solid electrolyte of the positive electrode to the surface of the negative electrode through the solid electrolyte, and react to form metallic lithium on the surface of the negative electrode; the hydroxide of the positive electrode loses electron-generating oxygen.

The lithium-ion battery can be replaced by a positive electrode electrolyte and a negative electrode lithium. The discharge capacity is as high as 50,000 mAh/g, and the energy density is high. Theoretically, 30 kg of metal lithium and 40 L of gasoline release the same energy; the product lithium hydroxide is easy to recycle and environmentally friendly. However, cycle stability, conversion efficiency, and rate performance are disadvantages.