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AbstractGreenhouse gas emission reduction is often cited as a reason for high energy density, next-generation battery development. As lithium-O₂battery research has progressed, researchers have examined the potential of many novel materials in the drive to reduce parasitic reactions and increase capacity. While the field has made great strides towards producing more reliable batteries, there has been little verification that lithium-O₂batteries will reduce net environmental impacts. This paper examines how material selection ultimately impacts lithium-O₂battery environmental impacts. Given that researchers should not wait until lithium-O₂batteries reach commercialization to assess their environmental impact, this paper describes how to incorporate LCA as an integral part of the battery design process. Furthermore, it provides impact factors of many relevant materials to increase the ease of LCA for the field. <bold>Graphic abstract</bold> 

High energy density lithium-O2 batteries have potential to increase electric vehicle driving range, but commercialization is prevented by technical challenges. Researchers have proposed electrolytes, catalysts, and binders to improve the battery capacity and reduce capacity fade. Novel battery design, however, is not always consistent with reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Optimizing battery design using solely electrochemical metrics ignores variations in the environmental impacts of different materials. The lack of uniform reporting practices further complicates such efforts. This paper presents commonly used lithium-O2 battery materials along with their GHG emissions. We use LCA methodology to estimate GHG emissions for five proposed lithium-O2 battery designs: (i) without catalyst, (ii) with catalyst, (iii) carbon-less and binder-less, (iv) anode protection, and (v) carbon-less, binder-less with gold catalyst. This work highlights knowledge gaps in lithium-O2 battery LCA, provides a benchmark to quantify battery composition impacts, and demonstrates the GHG emissions associated with certain materials and designs for laboratory-scale batteries. Predicted GHG emissions range from 10–70 kg of CO2 equivalent (kg CO2𝑒) kg−1 of battery, 60–1200 kg CO2𝑒 kWh−1, and 0.15–21 kg CO2𝑒 per km of vehicle travel, if battery replacement is considered. 

Electrified aircraft have gained traction as a promising approach to emissions abatement in the aviation sector. This transition will require overcoming numerous technical challenges related to increasing battery energy density, as well as logistic challenges related to the lithium supply chain, which is already stressed due to high demand for electric vehicles. We have estimated that lithium demand for electrified aviation may raise lithium demand in the range of 10–250%. The uncertainty in these estimates show the importance of quantifying the impacts of electrified aviation and designing batteries to mitigate additional demand. In addition, most reviews on electrified aviation do not include information on the localized social and environmental impacts caused by lithium demand, despite their importance to enabling technology necessary for emissions reductions. This review seeks to fill this gap by presenting an overview of environmental and social research in context with one another to encourage researchers in the field to consider these dynamics as part of electrified aircraft design. Given that the high energy density batteries necessary to enable large-scale electrification of aircraft are still under development, continued progress in this field should emphasize sustainable governance for lithium extraction and a circular battery economy to reduce social and environmental stressors.