MO-Co@N-Doped Carbon (M = Zn or Co): Vital Roles of Inactive Zn and Highly Efficient Activity toward Oxygen Reduction/Evolution Reactions for Rechargeable Zn-Air Battery

Journal Article · Wed Jun 14 04:00:00 EDT 2017 · Advanced Functional Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201700795· OSTI ID:1411443

Chen, Biaohua ^[1]; He, Xiaobo ^[2]; Yin, Fengxiang ^[3]; Wang, Hao ^[4]; Liu, Di-Jia ^[5]; Shi, Ruixing ^[6]; Chen, Jinnan ^[6]; Yin, Hongwei ^[6]

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1. State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029 P. R. China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Environmental Catalysis, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029 P. R. China
2. Changzhou Institute of Advanced Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Changzhou 213164 P. R. China
3. State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029 P. R. China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Environmental Catalysis, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029 P. R. China; Changzhou Institute of Advanced Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Changzhou 213164 P. R. China
4. State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029 P. R. China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Environmental Catalysis, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029 P. R. China; Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne IL 60439 USA
5. Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne IL 60439 USA
6. State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029 P. R. China

A highly efficient bifunctional oxygen catalyst is required for practical applications of fuel cells and metal-air batteries, as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are their core electrode reactions. Here, the MO-Co@ N-doped carbon (NC, M = Zn or Co) is developed as a highly active ORR/OER bifunctional catalyst via pyrolysis of a bimetal metal-organic framework containing Zn and Co, i.e., precursor (CoZn). The vital roles of inactive Zn in developing highly active bifunctional oxygen catalysts are unraveled. When the precursors include Zn, the surface contents of pyridinic N for ORR and the surface contents of Co-N-x and Co3+/Co2+ ratios for OER are enhanced, while the high specific surface areas, high porosity, and high electrochemical active surface areas are also achieved. Furthermore, the synergistic effects between Zn-based and Co-based species can promote the well growth of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) at high pyrolysis temperatures (>= 700 degrees C), which is favorable for charge transfer. The optimized CoZn-NC-700 shows the highly bifunctional ORR/OER activity and the excellent durability during the ORR/OER processes, even better than 20 wt% Pt/C (for ORR) and IrO2 (for OER). CoZn-NC-700 also exhibits the prominent Zn-air battery performance and even outperforms the mixture of 20 wt% Pt/C and IrO2.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1411443
• Journal Information: Advanced Functional Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Functional Materials Journal Issue: 37 Vol. 27; ISSN 1616-301X
• Publisher: Wiley
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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