Mesoporous birnessite-manganese oxide (b-MnO2) was studied for air electrode for Li-air rechargeable battery. In this study, mesoporous b-MnO2 with an average pore size of 3.52 nm and BET surface area of 237 m2 g(-1) was successfully prepared using inorganic/organic phase. Prepared mesoporous b-MnO2 was applied for air electrode for Li-air battery and discharge capacity of 345 mAh g-1 was observed at a current of 0.13 mA cm(-2). With the dispersion of small amount of Pd to mesoporous b-MnO2, it was found that the Li-air cell showed a reasonably large discharge capacity of 487 mAh g(-1) at 0.13 mA cm-2 at the initial cycle. The first discharge plateau around 2.71 V vs. Li/Li+ and charge plateau at 3.58 V vs. Li/Li* with highly reversible capacity were observed. The energy efficiency for the charge and discharge was estimated to be ca. 76.4%. The ex-situ XRD result of the mesoporous b-MnO2/Pd/TAB-2 (85/5/10) air electrode suggested that the observed capacity mainly came from Li+ and O-2 to form Li2O2 after discharge to 2.0 V. Formation of Li2CO3 was hardly observed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.