Embedding FeSb alloy nanoparticles in N-doped carbon layers as an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for zinc-air battery

Abstract

Due to the intrinsic sluggish kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), developing highly efficient and inexpensive bifunctional electrocatalysts are crucial for high-performance zinc-air battery. In this paper, a series of hybrid electrocatalysts by embedding FeSb alloy nanoparticles in nitrogen-doped carbon layers (FeSb-N-CLs) have been prepared by a facile pyrolysis of solid-phase precursor. The optimized FeSb-N-CLs-50 cathode catalyst exhibits excellent activity and stability to the ORR and OER in alkaline medium, which can be competitive with commercial Pt/C catalyst (20%). More importantly, the good performance and high stability of the primary and rechargeable zinc-air batteries employing FeSb-N-CLs-50 as cathodes further demonstrate this hybrid catalyst is a favorable and promising candidate to replace noble metal-based catalysts for the application in zinc-air batteries.