Composing atomic transition metal sites for high-performance bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis in rechargeable zinc–air batteries (Open Access)--颗粒学报PARTICUOLOGY

Wang, J., Zhao, C.-X., Liu, J.-N., Ren, D., Ma, X., Li, B.-Q., . . . Zhang, Q. (2023). Composing atomic transition metal sites for high-performance bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis in rechargeable zinc–air batteries. Particuology, 77, 146-152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2022.09.003

Composing atomic transition metal sites for high-performance bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis in rechargeable zinc–air batteries (Open Access)

Juan Wang^{a b}, Chang-Xin Zhao ^c, Jia-Ning Liu ^c, Ding Ren ^c, Xinzhi Ma ^d, Bo-Quan Li ^{a b *}, Jia-Qi Huang ^{a b}, Qiang Zhang ^c

a School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China
b Advanced Research Institute of Multidisciplinary Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China
c Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
d Key Laboratory for Photonic and Electronic Bandgap Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Harbin Normal University, Harbin, 150025, China

10.1016/j.partic.2022.09.003

Volume 77, June 2023, Pages 146-152

Received 16 July 2022, Revised 24 August 2022, Accepted 14 September 2022, Available online 6 October 2022, Version of Record 5 January 2023.

E-mail: libq@bit.edu.cn

Highlights

• A bifunctional electrocatalyst is proposed by composing atomic transition metal sites.

• High bifunctional oxygen electrocatalytic activity of ΔE = 0.72 V is realized.

• Ultralong lifespan and working rates are realized in zinc–air batteries.

Abstract

Rechargeable zinc–air batteries have attracted extensive attention as clean, safe, and high-efficient energy storage devices. However, the oxygen redox reactions at cathode are highly sluggish in kinetics and severely limit the actual battery performance. Atomic transition metal sites demonstrate high electrocatalytic activity towards respective oxygen reduction and evolution, while high bifunctional electrocatalytic activity is seldomly achieved. Herein a strategy of composing atomic transition metal sites is proposed to fabricate high active bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts and high-performance rechargeable zinc–air batteries. Concretely, atomic Fe and Ni sites are composed based on their respective high electrocatalytic activity on oxygen reduction and evolution. The composite electrocatalyst demonstrates high bifunctional electrocatalytic activity (ΔE = 0.72 V) and exceeds noble-metal-based Pt/C + Ir/C (ΔE = 0.79 V). Accordingly, rechargeable zinc–air batteries with the composite electrocatalyst realize over 100 stable cycles at 25 mA cm⁻². This work affords an effective strategy to fabricate bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts for high-performance rechargeable zinc–air batteries.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Rechargeable zinc–air batteries; Bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis; Noble-metal-free electrocatalysts; Oxygen reduction reaction; Oxygen evolution reaction

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