Superhydrophobic Co/Fe sulfide nanoparticles and single-atoms doped carbon nanosheets composite air cathode for high-performance zinc-air batteries

Abstract

Development of a high-performance bifunctional catalyst is essential for the actual implementation of zinc-air batteries in practical applications. Herein, a bifunctional cathode of Co3S4/FeS heterogeneous nanoparticles embedded in Co/Fe single-atom-loaded nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets is designed. Cobalt-iron sulfides and single atomic sites with Co-N4/Fe-N4 configurations are confirmed to coexist on the carbon matrix by EXAFS spectroscopy. 3D self-supported super-hydrophobic multiphase composite cathode provides abundant active sites and facilitates gas–liquid-solid three-phase interface reactions, resulting in excellent electrocatalytic activity and batteries performance, i.e., an OER overpotential (η10) of 260 mV, a half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.872 V for ORR, a ΔE of 0.618 V, and a discharge power density of 170 mW cm−2, a specific capacity of 816.3 mAh g−1. DFT analysis shows multiphase coupling of sulfide heterojunction through single-atomic metal doped carbon nanosheets reduces offset on center of electronic density of states before and after oxygen adsorption, and spin density of adsorbed oxygen with same spin orientation, leading to weakened charge/spin interactions between adsorbed oxygen and substrate, and a lowered oxygen adsorption energy to accelerate OER/ORR.