A new carbon supported lithium-copper cathode catalyst (gel@LiCu) is composed of activated carbon (@) supported gel, LiNO3 and CuCl2 mixture is investigated in the oxygen reduction reaction. The gel@LiCu cathode, which is selected from different configurations of electrodes, is found to have the best material for the cathode. The molar ratio of lithium-copper (1.0:1.5) and the amount of glycine given in terms of grams are determined in order to find the most active material. The catalytic activity of the gel@LiCu electrode is evaluated by cyclic voltammetry, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. The morphology and the phase structure of the gel@LiCu electrode are characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrometer. The catalyst shows good catalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), as well as oxygen evolution reaction (OER). (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.