Abstract
Reasonable design and development of a low-cost and high-efficiency bifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is essential for promoting the development of Zinc-air battery technology. Herein, we obtained an integrated catalytic electrode, NiFe nanoparticles supported on nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) directly grown on the carbon cloth (designated as Ni3Fe2@NC/CC), by pyrolysis of bimetallic NiFe metal-organic framework (MOF) precursor. There is a synergistic effect between nickel and iron component, which enhances the bifunctional catalytic activity. In addition, the underlying carbon cloth is conducive to the efficient electron transfer and also benefits the uniform loading of catalytically active materials. Thus, the integrated electrode shows good OER/ORR dual-functional catalytic performance, and the OER overpotential is much lower than that of the traditional drop-coating electrode and precious metal catalyst (IrO2). Moreover, the Ni3Fe2@NC/CC integrated electrode used in zinc-air batteries shows good flexibility and cycle stability. Our findings provide a new avenue for the development of efficient and stable bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts.
Highlights
The crisis from environmental and energy issues have driven the research and development of new energy technologies on a global scale (Poizot and Dolhem, 2011; Larcher and Tarascon, 2015; Chu et al, 2016; Stamenkovic et al, 2016; Li and Wang, 2019; Chen et al, 2020)
The XRD pattern of the precursor that had been sonicated from the carbon cloth was consistent with the theoretically fitted Ni3[Fe(CN)6]2·H2O, (Zhang et al, 2017), which means the successful formation of the NiFe-metal-organic framework (MOF) precursor (Supplementary Figure 2)
Since bifunctional oxygen catalytic performance is required in rechargeable Zinc-air battery, the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of synthesized composites was assessed by coating on rotating disk electrodes (RDEs)
Summary
The crisis from environmental and energy issues have driven the research and development of new energy technologies on a global scale (Poizot and Dolhem, 2011; Larcher and Tarascon, 2015; Chu et al, 2016; Stamenkovic et al, 2016; Li and Wang, 2019; Chen et al, 2020). A novel NiFe nanoparticles supported on nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) hybrid material, directly grown on the carbon cloth (designated as Ni3Fe2@NC/CC), was proposed and synthesized as an integrated electrode for promoting OER/ORR electrocatalysis and zinc-air batteries. The anode of the battery was a zinc plate, the electrolyte was 6.0 M KOH and 0.2 M ZnCl2 solution, and the air cathode was a catalyst coated on a 1 × 1 cm2 carbon cloth.
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