Abstract
Development of convenient, economic electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline medium is of great significance to practical applications of aluminum-air batteries. Herein, a biomass chitin-derived carbon material with high ORR activities has been prepared and applied as electrocatalysts in Al-air batteries. The obtained cobalt, nitrogen co-doped carbon material (CoNC) exhibits the positive onset potential 0.86 V vs. RHE (reversible hydrogen electrode) and high-limiting current density 5.94 mA cm−2. Additionally, the durability of the CoNC material in alkaline electrolyte shows better stability when compared to the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Furthermore, the Al-air battery using CoNC as an air cathode catalyst provides the power density of 32.24 mW cm−2 and remains the constant discharge voltage of 1.17 V at 20 mA cm−2. This work not only provides a facile method to synthesize low-cost and efficient ORR electrocatalysts for Al-air batteries, but also paves a new way to explore and utilize high-valued biomass materials.
Highlights
Environmental deterioration and the depletion of finite resources stimulate research to seek and develop clean energy storage and conversion devices for the future
The difference in morphology was further discussed via a nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurement
The electrocatalytic activities of the four as-prepared samples were first investigated via cyclic voltammetry (CV) tests performed via an electrochemical workstation (CHI 750e) with three-electrode
Summary
Environmental deterioration and the depletion of finite resources stimulate research to seek and develop clean energy storage and conversion devices for the future. Graphene [15], carbon nanotubes (CNTs) [16] and activated carbon [17] are most frequently used in the preparation of carbon-based electrocatalysts due to their excellent physical and chemical properties. These carbon materials have shown remarkable catalytic activity, their cost still. Deng et al [29] described an activated carbon sheet derived from chitin, which was an efficient non-metal bifunctional electrocatalyst for both ORR and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). An Al-air battery was assembled with a Co and N co-doped biocarbon electrocatalyst as an air cathode, which achieved high power density (32.24 mW cm−2 ) and excellent energy storage performance, indicating the Co and N co-doped biocarbon catalyst could be utilized as an efficient electrocatalyst in the Al-air battery
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