Hierarchically Porous Multimetal‐Based Carbon Nanorod Hybrid as an Efficient Oxygen Catalyst for Rechargeable Zinc–Air Batteries

Abstract

AbstractThe lack of efficient strategies to address the intrinsic activity, site accessibility, and structural stability issues of metal‐carbon hybrid catalysts is restricting their real‐world implementation on the basis of rechargeable zinc–air batteries. Herein, a dual metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) pyrolysis strategy is developed to regulate the intrinsic activity and porous structure of the derived catalysts, where a Fe2Ni_MIL‐88@ZnCo_zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF), with a hierarchically porous structure, multifunctional components, and an integrated architecture, acts as an ideal precursor to obtain multimetal based porous nanorod (FeNiCo@NC‐P). Benefitting from the synergetic effect of the multimetal components, facilitated reactant accessibility, and the well‐retained integrated structure, the resultant FeNiCo@NC‐P catalyst exhibits an oxygen reduction reaction half‐wave potential of 0.84 V as well as an oxygen evolution reaction potential of 1.54 V at 10 mA cm–2. Furthermore, the practical application of FeNiCo@NC‐P in the zinc–air battery displays a low voltage gap and long‐term durability (over 130 h at a current density of 10 mA cm–2), which outperforms the commercial noble metal benchmarks. This work not only affords a competitive bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst for zinc–air batteries but also paves a new way to design and fabricate MOF‐derived materials with tunable catalytic properties.