This study aims to enhance air cathodes in metal–air batteries by integrating aluminum‐doped cadmium oxide with plasma‐treated silicon dioxide. SiO 2 , extracted from rice husks, undergoes direct current glow discharge plasma treatment to improve surface properties, structural stability, and conductivity. Plasma treatment significantly enhances the SiO 2 surface, yielding a high specific capacitance of 640 F g −1 , improved catalytic activity, enhanced cyclic stability (coulombic efficiency of 99% and capacity retention of 94%), and increased hydrophilicity. When employed as the air cathode in an aluminum–air battery, the composite demonstrates efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics, a discharge capacity of 33.33 mAh, and stable long‐term performance, successfully powering a light‐emitting diode (LED) for 5 days with an open‐circuit voltage of 1.12 V.
Karthikeyan et al. (2026) studied this question.