Engineering the performance of bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts by modulating the atomically dispersed Co, Ni on N-doped cotton biomass aerogel of carbon fiber catalysts for rechargeable zinc-air battery
摘要
Rational construction of advanced bifunctional catalysts with dual-active sites is still challenging for both oxygen reduction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reactions (OER).The design of metal single atom catalysts prepared through high-temperature gas transport is an emerging method. The CoNi-N-C catalyst was prepared by using Co powder and Nickel foam to volatilize atomic dispersed Co,Ni element embedded in nitrogen-doped cotton biomass aerogel of carbon fibers in a high temperature tubular furnace in ammonia atmosphere. In this work, CoNi-N-C-1000 atomically dispersed catalyst was successfully synthesized using the above method. The resulting CoNi-N-C-1000 exhibited excellent bifunctional catalytic performance for ORR (E1/2 = 0.85 V) and OER (Ej=10 = 1.54 V) in alkaline electrolytes, which can compete with previously reported bifunctional electrocatalysts. In addition, compared to the Pt/C + RuO2 mixed catalyst, this bifunctional catalyst can endow the self-made zinc-air battery with better power density (155.4 mW/cm2) and cycle stability (157.5 h), demonstrating its potential feasibility in practical applications of rechargeable zinc-air batteries.