Abstract
Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are still kinetic barriers of regenerative fuel cell and metal–air batteries, requiring efficient and inexpensive bifunctional electrocatalysts to accelerate the reaction and improve energy efficiency. Herein, we develop Co9S8 particles in situ grown on nitrogen and sulfur co-doped porous carbon (Co9S8/NSPC) to replace the benchmark noble metal catalysts, which shows high catalytic activities including small potential gap, long-term durability and high selectivity. Importantly, the Zn–air battery with Co9S8/NSPC as air electrode displays low discharge/charge overpotential and good cyclic stability, making it the promising bifunctional catalyst for the practical applications.
Highlights
Due to the high power density, high energy conversion efficiency and lack of pollution, the use of regenerative fuel cells and metal–air batteries as clean and efficient energy conversion and storage technologies can, to a great extent, mitigate the worldwide energy and ecological crises caused by the immoderate consumption of fossil fuels.[1,2,3,4] At the heart of these devices is oxygen electrochemistry, which includes both the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and involves a four-electron transfer process that exposes the sluggish reaction kinetics, resulting in severe energy conversion losses.[5,6,7] many efficient single functional OER or ORR catalysts have been achieved, the exploration of ideal bifunctional catalysts for OER and ORR is still highly challenging because active ORR catalysts usually exhibit poor OER performances and vice versa
We report Co9S8 nanoparticles grown in situ on nitrogen- and sulfur-doped porous carbon (Co9S8/nitrogen and sulfur co-doped porous carbon (NSPC)) as a bifunctional catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) using poly(2-aminothiazole) as a novel all-in-one multifunctional precursor
Due to the high power density, high energy conversion efficiency and lack of pollution, the use of regenerative fuel cells and metal–air batteries as clean and efficient energy conversion and storage technologies can, to a great extent, mitigate the worldwide energy and ecological crises caused by the immoderate consumption of fossil fuels.[1,2,3,4]
Summary
Due to the high power density, high energy conversion efficiency and lack of pollution, the use of regenerative fuel cells and metal–air batteries as clean and efficient energy conversion and storage technologies can, to a great extent, mitigate the worldwide energy and ecological crises caused by the immoderate consumption of fossil fuels.[1,2,3,4] At the heart of these devices is oxygen electrochemistry, which includes both the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and involves a four-electron transfer process that exposes the sluggish reaction kinetics, resulting in severe energy conversion losses.[5,6,7] many efficient single functional OER or ORR catalysts have been achieved, the exploration of ideal bifunctional catalysts for OER and ORR is still highly challenging because active ORR catalysts usually exhibit poor OER performances and vice versa. As a proof-of-concept experiment, we first develop a facile approach for the in situ anchoring of Co9S8 NPs on nitrogen and sulfur co-doped porous carbon (NSPC) as an efficient bifunctional catalyst for OER and ORR, in which water-soluble Na2SO4 nanowires are used as a template due to their low cost and ease of fabrication and removal, ensuring the porous structure of Co9S8/NSPC.
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