Abstract
Zinc–air batteries proffer high energy density and cyclic stability at low costs but lack disadvantages like sluggish reactions at the cathode and the formation of by-products at the cathode. To resolve these issues, a new perovskite material, CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO), is proposed as an efficacious electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution/reduction reactions to develop zinc–air batteries (ZAB). Synthesis of this material adopted an effective oxalate route, which led to the purity in the electrocatalyst composition. The CCTO material is a proven potential candidate for energy applications because of its high dielectric permittivity (ε) and occupies an improved ORR-OER activity with better onset potential, current density, and stability. The Tafel value for CCTO was obtained out to be 80 mV dec−1. The CCTO perovskite was also evaluated for the zinc–air battery as an air electrode, corresponding to the high specific capacitance of 801 mAh g−1 with the greater cyclic efficiency and minimum variations in both charge/discharge processes. The highest power density (Pmax) measured was 127 mW cm−2. Also, the CCTO based paper battery shows an excellent performance achieving a specific capacity of 614 mAh g−1. The obtained results promise CCTO as a potential and cheap electrocatalyst for energy applications.
Highlights
Zinc–air batteries proffer high energy density and cyclic stability at low costs but lack disadvantages like sluggish reactions at the cathode and the formation of by-products at the cathode
Much effort has been expended in the quest for low-cost metal-free noble bi-functional catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline medium, like, metal oxides, chalcogenides, double-layered hydroxides, spinels, and p erovskites[15,21]
Perovskites are materials with high electro-catalytic activities and the capabilities to tune up their structural stability and composition flexibility[1,3]. They are relatively cheap with high specific activity. They have the formula of A BO3 where A site occupies rare/alkaline earth metal cations (12 fold coordination), and B site occupies transition metal cations[22,23]
Summary
Zinc–air batteries proffer high energy density and cyclic stability at low costs but lack disadvantages like sluggish reactions at the cathode and the formation of by-products at the cathode. To resolve these issues, a new perovskite material, CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO), is proposed as an efficacious electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution/reduction reactions to develop zinc–air batteries (ZAB). The intrinsic lethargic process of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on the air electrode results in a vast over potential, impoverished reversibility, constrained energy efficiency, and low output power density technical barriers to the practical application of ZABs12–14.
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