Trifunctional catalyst of FeCo,N-doped mixed-dimensional carbon for the high-performance zinc-air flow battery

Abstract

Exploring efficient and highly stable non-precious metal trifunctional catalysts is imperative for the practical application of zinc-air flow batteries (ZAFBs) and overall water splitting (OWS). Herein, the FeCo and nitrogen-rich codoped one-dimensional carbon nanotubes cross-interpenetrated with birdhouse-like carbon nanosheets in mixed-dimensional carbon structure (FeCo,N-MDC) is constructed by a facile and universal method. Benefiting from the merits of hyper-dispersed FeCo-N/Ox and FeCo alloy active sites, high density of pyridine and graphitic nitrogen, ultra-high conducting carbon nanotubes, large surface area, and massive mass transfer channels can synergistically promote multifunctional catalysis. The resulting FeCo,N-MDC exhibits superior trifunctional activities with onset potential and half-wave potential of 0.994 V and 0.861 V for oxygen reduction reaction in 0.1 M KOH, oxygen evolution reaction and hydrogen evolution reaction overpotentials of 0.341 V and 0.272 V at 10 mA·cm−2 in 1 M KOH, respectively, and have long electrochemical stability. Moreover, the FeCo,N-MDC-based ZAFB has an open-circuit voltage of 1.517 V, a specific capacity of 808 mAh·g−1, the remarkable running stability for 300 h, which surpassed that of commercial Pt/C + RuO2 hybrid-driven device. Additionally, the hydrophilic FeCo,N-MDC, as both the anode and cathode electrodes, also display a hydrolysis reaction voltage of 1.603 V to deliver a current density of 10 mA·cm−2 and outstanding durability. What is more, the continuously mass-produced FeCo,N-MDC, and the alternative CoFe, N-MDC catalysts exhibit excellent performance in the same water-solvent environment. This effort presents a facile strategy for rationally designing economical and efficient mixed-dimensional catalysts for zinc-air flow batteries and more energy devices.