Carbon Dodecahedron Research Articles

Spatial Confinement of Lithium Borohydride in Bimetallic CoNi-Doped Hollow Carbon Frameworks for Stable Hydrogen Storage.

While lithium borohydride is one of the most promising hydrogen storage materials due to its ultrahigh hydrogen storage density, high thermodynamic stability, kinetic barriers, and poor reversibility, it is far from being used in practical applications. Herein, we prepare a cubic hollow carbon dodecahedron uniformly modified with a bimetallic CoNi alloy (CoNi/NC) for preserving the stable catalytic effect of CoNi alloys toward reversible hydrogen storage. It is theoretically confirmed that bimetallic CoNi alloys effectively weaken the B-H bonds of LiBH4 by extending their average length to 1.33, 0.09 and 0.04 Å longer than that of LiBH4 and LiBH4 under metallic Co, respectively. More importantly, the alloying of Co with Ni avoids the reattachment of H from LiBH4 to the Co surface, which prevents LiBH4 from dehydrogenation for the formation of H2 on the Co surface, thus resulting in an ultralow hydrogen desorption energy of 0.1, 1.85 and 0.52 eV lower than that of LiBH4 and LiBH4 under metallic Co. Therefore, the onset and peak hydrogen desorption temperatures decrease to 130 and 355 °C, respectively, 170 and 97 °C lower than that of bulk LiBH4. More importantly, a reversible H2 capacity of 9.4 wt % is achieved even after 10 cycles.

Electronic modulation optimizes intermediate adsorption on Ni sites via coupling NiCo alloy in N-doped carbon dodecahedrons toward efficient hydrogen evolution reaction

Developing efficient, stable, and low-cost metal electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is significant for clean energy conversion technology. Regulating the adsorption energy of H intermediates by modulating the electronic structure of the active sites of the electrocatalyst for approximating the equilibrium potential is of primality importance to overcoming the kinetic sluggishness of the HER, yet still represents a great challenge. Herein, we have reported a NiCo alloy electrocatalyst supported by an N-doped carbon dodecahedral substrate with a strong electron coupling between the NiCo alloy and NC to improve the obstacles of both activity and stability for HER. Benefiting from the above electron coupling effect, the Ni1Co2/NC catalyst exhibits enhanced HER activity and stability in an acid electrolyte. Specifically, the Ni1Co2/NC exhibits enhanced acid HER activity with a low overpotential of 114.7 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and robust stability with negligible activity decay after 5000 cycles, which are superior to its counterpart. Theoretical calculations revealed that the electron coupling between the NiCo alloy and NC could effectively moderate the electronic states of NiCo alloy, dramatically decreasing the free energy for H adsorption and leading to optimal adsorption/desorption of *H, thereby promoting the overall HER kinetics. This study provides a new perspective on constructing catalysts of HER with low-cost, well-designed structures and superior performance for clean energy conversion technology.

Heavily heteroatoms doped carbons with tunable microstructure as the iodine hosts for rechargeable zinc-iodine aqueous batteries

Rechargeable zinc-iodine aqueous batteries are promising energy storage technology by virtue of their natural abundance, low costs, and high safety. However, it is still restricted to the sluggish electrochemical reaction kinetics and lack of high-performance host materials. Here, four types of porous carbons including carbon nanosheets, carbon nanoshells, carbon skeletons, and carbon dodecahedrons have been produced with ZIF-8 as the precursor by simply changing the additives. Not only the morphologies but also the specific surface area as well as the pore size distributions of the resulting samples can be well regulated while maintaining a high heteroatomic content, which affords a multifunctional platform to explore the structure-electrochemical performance relationship when serving as the iodine hosts for zinc-iodine aqueous batteries. Moreover, the plentiful of heteroatomic functional groups and inorganic species can shift the weak van der Waals force between hosts and iodine species to strong chemical interaction through halogen bonds. Therefore, the maximum specific capacity can reach 313.6 mAh g−1 (at 0.5 C), good rate capability at 100 C, and long cycle life. Furthermore, the interaction between iodine and host as well as the energy storage mechanism has been explored based on s series of spectral analysis techniques. This work offers the possibility to design high-performance aqueous zinc-based batteries via the optimization of suitable carbon hosts.

Encapsulating dual-phase WC-W2C nanoparticles into hollow carbon dodecahedrons for all-pH electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Designing robust and reliable pH-universal electrocatalyst for H2 production is highly desirable for industrial water splitting, but still remains great challenge. Herein, dual-phase WC-W2C nanocrystals embedded into hollow carbon dodecahedrons (denoted as WC-W2C/HCDs) is obtained via a template-engaged method. Combining hollow structure and befitting phase compositions, dual-phase WC-W2C/HCDs exhibits competitive HER activities, requiring only 96, 148 and 116 mV overpotentials to drive 10 mA cm−2 in 0.5 M H2SO4, 1.0 M phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and 1.0 M KOH, respectively, which displays superior activity toward the HER to the single-phase WC/HCDs and W2C/HCDs. Meanwhile, it also exhibits an exceptionally durability in 0.5 M H2SO4 acid electrolyte, showing insignificant degradation over 150 h of H2 production, as well as durable in neutral and alkaline conditions. Such excellent HER ability is benefit from the heterointerfaces between WC and W2C that yield the strong electronic coupling interactions, providing beneficial sites for both intermediate H* adsorption energy and water dissociation. Moreover, the hollow carbon dodecahedrons exhibit overall enhancement in electrical conductivity, exposure of catalytic active sites, long-term durability in wide range of pH (0–14). This strategy may open up a new possibility for the rational design of dual-phase carbide and others electrocatalysts toward pH-universal H2 production.

An electrochemical sensor for purine base detection with ZIF-8-derived hollow N-doped carbon dodecahedron and AuNPs as electrocatalysts

In this paper, a novel electrochemical sensor was constructed for the detection of purine bases. Ultrafine carbide nanocrystals confined within porous nitrogen-doped carbon dodecahedrons (PNCD) were synthesized by adding molybdate to ZIF-8 followed by annealing. With MoC-based PNCDs (MC-PNCDs) as the carrier, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were deposited on the electrode surface via potentiostatic deposition as the promoter of electron transfer, forming a AuNPs/MC-PNCDs/activated glassy carbon electrode (AGCE) sensor. MC-PNCDs had a large specific surface area, which combined with the excellent electrocatalytic activity of AuNPs, synergistically improved the electrocatalytic activity. The morphology and structure of the electrode surface modifier were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis, and electrochemical characterization. Under the optimal conditions, the linear detection range of guanine (G) and adenine (A) was 0.5-160.0 μM, and the detection limits (S/N=3) were 72.1 and 69.6 nM, respectively. AuNPs/MC-PNCDs/AGCE was successfully constructed, and was used to simultaneously detect G and A with high sensitivity and selectivity. Moreover, the sensor was successfully used to detect G and A in herring sperm DNA samples.

Superimposed effect of hollow carbon polyhedron and interconnected graphene network to achieve CoTe2 anode for fast and ultralong sodium storage

Owing to the high trap density, large ionic radius, and unique crystal structure, CoTe2 shows great potential as anodes for sodium storage. However, the intrinsic poor electronic conductivity and large volume variation of CoTe2 during the charge-discharge process result in inferior electrochemical performance. Herein, three-dimensional hollow porous carbon dodecahedron composed of CoTe2 microparticles on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets (denoted as CoTe2@3DG) is prepared by coordination regulation between rGO and Co-MOF (ZIF-67) and subsequent tellurization reaction. The CoTe2@3DG hybrids combine the synergistic advantages of the double-carbon skeleton and provide efficient volume expansion space of CoTe2 nanoparticles throughout cycling to realize excellent electrochemical capability. The electrochemical analysis and in-situ X-ray diffraction measurement reveal the fast electrons/sodium-ions transfer kinetics and phase evolution mechanism for sodium storage. Thus, the CoTe2@3DG hybrids display an excellent cycling stability (∼103 mAh g−1 is maintained after 4500 cycles at 1.0 A g−1) as well as excellent rate capability (135 mAh g−1 at 5.0 A g−1). This work proposes a simple and facile double-carbon-encapsulation technique for improving sodium storage performance in anode materials with conversion mechanisms.

Surface active-site engineering in NiCoSe2/nitrogen-doped carbon dodecahedrons for efficient triiodide reduction in photovoltaics

Constructing Pt-free counter electrode (CE) catalysts with considerable catalytic activity, conductivity, and electrochemical stability are greatly significant for improving the overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In this work, we focus on the uniformly distributing Ni and Co elements into layered hydroxide polyhedrons that stemmed from ZIF-67 to transform an active-site enriched composite of NiCoSe2 encapsulated by the derived nitrogen-doped carbon dodecahedrons (NiCoSe2/NC) through the simple pyrolysis procedure. Benefitting from the evenly distributed catalytic sites, unique structure, and positively synergy, the resultant NiCoSe2/NC displays excellent catalytic activity in triiodide reduction reaction (IRR). Consequently, DSSCs fabricated with the optimized NiCoSe2/NC yielded an impressive PCE of 9.92 %, superior to that of the traditional Pt-based devices (8.17 %). The intrinsic mechanism for superior IRR performance of NiCoSe2/NC was mainly ascribed to the favorable adsorption energy (Ead) for capturing I3−, the highly reactive metal catalytic sites at the interface, the efficient electron-transfer pathway, and the enhanced bonding interaction between I 5p and 3d states of the dual metals, as revealed by DFT calculation. It is worthy expecting to provide an extensible pathway for developing a cost-effective composite with profitable structure to guide the synthesis of efficient catalysts in catalytic fields.

Constructing MoS2@Co1.11Te2/Co-NCD with Te nanorods for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction and triiodide reduction

Herein, we designed and constructed MoS2@Co1.11Te2/Co-doped nitrogen carbon dodecahedron with Te nanorods (Co-NCD-T) by rational structure engineering. The as-synthesized MoS2@Co1.11Te2/Co-NCD-T composite served as a bifunctional catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction and triiodide reduction reaction. The incorporation of Te nanorods provided additional charge transport channels and subsequently accelerated the electron transport between the electrode and electrolyte. The synergistic effect between Co1.11Te2 and MoS2 further enhanced the catalytic activity. The MoS2@Co1.11Te2/Co-NCD-T electrode catalyst showed an overpotential of 124 mV when the current density was 10 mA·cm−2 and a small Tafel slope of 49 mV·dec−1 in an alkaline medium. The assembled solar cell exhibited a superior conversion efficiency of 9.00%, significantly higher than Pt (7.32%). The proposed strategy based on rational structure engineering is expected to facilitate the fabrication of hybrids for multi-functional applications.

Facile and rapid synthesis of ultrafine RuPd alloy anchored in N-doped porous carbon for superior HER electrocatalysis in both alkaline and acidic media

Searching for preeminent electrocatalysts toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is significantly important in transforming renewable electricity to clean hydrogen energy by electrochemical water splitting. Herein, ultrafine RuPd alloy nanoparticles anchored in MOFs-derived N-doped porous carbon dodecahedrons (Ru x Pd 1−x @NPC) were synthesized by microwave-assisted ethylene glycol reduction method. Due to the synergistic promotion by modulating the composition and structure, excellent HER catalytic performance was achieved in both alkaline and acidic media for the as-prepared Ru x Pd 1−x @NPC electrocatalysts with low noble metal loading. In which, Ru 0.7 Pd 0.3 @NPC exhibited significantly enhanced alkaline HER activity with a low overpotential of only 20 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm −2 . Meanwhile, Ru 0.3 Pd 0.7 @NPC showed admirable HER activity in acidic media, which delivered an overpotential of 36 mV at 10 mA cm −2 . Additionally, the proposed catalysts demonstrated high mass activity and good long-term stability in both alkaline and acidic condition, remarkably surpassing the commercial Pt/C catalyst. The superior activity of the Ru x Pd 1−x @NPC catalysts is attributed to improved intrinsic activity, fast charge transfer kinetics and distinct electrochemical active surface areas after alloying. This work provides a rapid and facile synthesis of highly efficient, durable and affordable alloy electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution. With low noble metal loading, the alloying Ru x Pd 1−x @NPC electrocatalysts synthesized by facile and rapid microwave-assisted reduction method exhibit dramatically enhanced performance for sustainable hydrogen evolution. • Series of ultrafine alloying RuPd nanoparticles are dispersedly encapsulated in N-doped porous carbon dodecahedrons. • A facile and rapid microwave-assisted reduction method is proposed to synthesize RuPd alloy catalysts. • Enhanced HER electrocatalytic performance is realized in both alkaline and acidic media .

Target-triggered hybridization chain reaction for ultrasensitive dual-signal miRNA detection

A signal amplification sensing system with target-triggered DNA cascade reaction combined with dual-signal readout technology was designed for ultrasensitive analysis of miRNA. The highly conductive metal organic frameworks (MOFs) derivative, N-doped carbon dodecahedron (N-PCD) was deposited with gold nanoparticles as the electrode substrate, which could assist the electron transfer between the molecular probe and the electrode surface, and could remarkably enhance electrochemical response. Tetrahedral DNA nanostructure (T4-DNA) with high structural stability and mechanical stiffness was designed to improve the loading capacity and binding efficiency of the target, thus increasing the sensitivity of the system. The non-enzymatic amplification method based on the DNA cascade reaction allows the electrochemical responses from dual signal DNA probes labeled with ferrocene (Fc) and methylene blue (MB), respectively in turn to improve the reliability of detection. Under optimal conditions, the sensor has a linear range of 5–1.0 × 104 fM, and the limit of detection is as low as 1.92 fM and 3.74 fM for Fc and MB labeled probe, respectively. This strategy raises the promising application for the rapid detection of miRNA targets with low abundance in complex biological systems.

Cobalt/three-dimensional carbon/reduced graphene oxide modified PP separator for Li-S batteries

In this work, a composite of cobalt metal nanoparticles/three-dimensional carbon/reduced graphene oxide (Co-3DC-rGO) was synthesized using corn husk, ZIF-67, and graphene oxide as precursors. The Co-3DC-rGO was used to modify commercial PP to prepare the Co-3DC-rGO/PP separator. The performance of Co-3DC-rGO/PP separator was evaluated in lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). SEM images exhibited that a three-dimensional carbon (3DC) skeleton was obtained by corn husk transformation, and the ZIF-67-derived cobalt-decorated carbon dodecahedrons were homogeneously filled into the hierarchical pores of the 3DC structure. TEM images displayed that Co metal nanoparticles can escape from ZIF-67 and scatter on the rGO nano-sheets and 3DC skeleton. Benefitting from the synergy effects of the 3D carbon skeleton, rGO, and Co metal nanoparticles, the electrochemical performance of LSBs with Co-3DC-rGO/PP separator is better than LSBs with commercial PP separator. When tested at 1C, the LSB with Co-3DC-rGO/PP separator presents a high stable reversible capacity of 516.3 mA h g −1 after 500 cycles. This research provides new ideas for the preparation of LSBs separator. • Co/3D carbon/rGO decorated PP separator was prepared and used in Li-S batteries. • Co/3D carbon/rGO can inhibit the shuttle of lithium polysulfides to the Li anode. • Co/3D carbon/rGO accelerate the conversion of lithium polysulfides to Li2S. • The Li-S battery with Co/3DC/rGO/PP separator delivers excellent electrochemical performance.

Enhanced microwave absorption performance of nitrogen-doped porous carbon dodecahedrons composite embedded with ceric dioxide

CeO2/Co/C dodecahedrons composites with excellent microwave absorption performance were synthesized by using a hydrothermal method. ZIF-67/CeO2 was first prepared by introducing CeO2 into the precursor of ZIF-67 and then CeO2/Co/C composite was obtained after heat treatment. Impedance matching of the samples could be well adjusted by controlling the content of CeO2. Unique dodecahedral structure for more interfacial reflection and cerium dioxide oxygen vacancies enhance microwave absorption performance. Specifically, the CeO2/Co/C exhibited a minimum reflection loss of −68.83 dB is observed at 5.92 GHz, while the thickness was 3.69 mm. The introduction of CeO2 effectively enhanced the impedance matching of the materials and improved the microwave absorption performance. Therefore, this CeO2/Co/C composite is a promising microwave absorber material with high performance.

Designing CoS1.035 Nanoparticles Anchored on N-Doped Carbon Dodecahedron as Dual-Enzyme Mimics for the Colorimetric Detection of H2O2 and Glutathione.

In recent years, the exploration of the nanozyme, an artificial enzyme with the structure and function of natural enzymes, has become a hot topic in this field. Although significant progress has been made, it is still a huge challenge to design nanozymes with multiple enzyme-like catalytic activities. In this work, we have successfully fabricated a colorimetric sensing platform to mimic peroxidase-like and oxidase-like activities by the CoS1.035 nanoparticles decorated N-doped carbon framework porous dodecahedrons (abbreviated to CoS1.035/N-C PDHs). And the catalytic mechanism of CoS1.035/N-C PDHs toward the peroxidase-like and oxidase-like activities is systematically explored. The results display that CoS1.035/N-C PDHs can catalyze the oxidation of the colorless substrate 3,3,′5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) into blue oxidized TMB (ox-TMB) by disintegrating H2O2 or the physically/chemically absorbed O2 into different ROS species (·OH or O2·–) in the presence or absence of H2O2. Therefore, on the basis of the dual-enzyme mimic activities of CoS1.035/N-C PDHs, the bifunctional colorimetric sensing platform is established for H2O2 detection with a wide linear range of 0.5–120 μM and glutathione detection with a linear range of 1–60 μM, respectively. This work provides an efficient platform for dual-enzyme mimics, expanding the application prospect of Co-based chalcogenides as enzyme mimics in biosensing, medical diagnosis, and environment monitoring.

An Electrochemical Sensor for Purine Base Detection with Zif-8-Derived Hollow N-Doped Carbon Dodecahedron and Aunps as Electrocatalysts

An Electrochemical Sensor for Purine Base Detection with Zif-8-Derived Hollow N-Doped Carbon Dodecahedron and Aunps as Electrocatalysts

Direct electrochemistry of doxorubicin and its ultra-sensitive detection using a novel porous thorny carbon dodecahedron

Novel polyhedron was prepared for the high-performance electrocatalysis and detection of doxorubicin, leading to the successful doxorubicin sensing in HeLa cell inhibition.

Designing and Understanding the Outstanding Tri-Iodide Reduction of N-Coordinated Magnetic Metal Modified Defect-Rich Carbon Dodecahedrons in Photovoltaics.

Nitrogen-coordinated metal-modified carbon is regarded as a novel frontier electrocatalyst in energy conversion devices. However, the construction of intrinsic defects in a carbon matrix remains a great challenge. Herein, N-coordinated magnetic metal (Fe, Co) modified porous carbon dodecahedrons (Fe/Co-NPCD) with a large surface area, rich intrinsic defects, and evenly distributed metal-Nx species are successfully synthesized via the rational design of iron precursor and the bimetallic-organic frameworks. Because of a synergistic effect between N-coordinated dual magnetic metal active sites, the Fe/Co-NPCD exhibits exceptional electrocatalytic activity and electrochemical stability. A solar cell fabricates with the Fe/Co-NPCD yields an impressive power conversion efficiency of 8.35% in dye-sensitized solar cells, superior to that of mono-metal-doped carbon-based cells and conventional Pt-based cells. Furthermore, density functional theory calculations illustrate that Fe, Co, and N doping are in favor of improving the adsorption capacity of the catalyst for I3 - species by optimizing the magnetic momentum between the magnetic metal atoms, thereby upgrading its catalytic activity. This work develops ageneral strategy for synthesizing a high-performance defect-rich carbon-based catalyst, and offers valuable insight into the role of magnetic metals in catalysis, which can be used to guide the design of high-performance catalysts in the energy field.

Cobalt nanoparticles encapsulated by nitrogen-doped carbon framework as anode materials for high performance lithium-ion capacitors

In this work, we propose to prepare a nitrogen-doped nanocomposite ([email protected]) by one-step carbonization of the zeolite imidazole ester framework structure material (ZIF-67). Among them, the composite material uses porous carbon dodecahedron as the supporting framework, and the metal Co nanoparticles (12–15 nm) are encapsulated inside the carbon framework. The prepared nanocomposite demonstrates excellent electrochemical performance, and the electrode kinetic analysis shows extremely high pseudo-capacitance contribution and good cycle stability, almost no fluctuations during the cycle. Moreover, our assembled hybrid lithium-ion capacitor (LIC) has superb energy–density (125.28 Wh kg−1) and power-density (10 kW kg−1), and excellent cycle life (91.74% was retained after 1000 cycles), which is ascribed to the combined effect between the ideal component and multilayer structure of the prepared nanohybrid. This research work provides an effective solution for energy storage systems that take into account both high power and high energy density.

Nitrogen-doped carbon dodecahedron embedded with cobalt nanoparticles for the direct electro-oxidation of glucose and efficient nonenzymatic glucose sensing

Developing high-performance sensors for glucose detection is extremely desirable for clinical diagnostics and life sciences. Particularly, it is greatly attractive to exploit composite materials with large surface area, doped heterojunction and non-precious metal as highly active electro-catalysts for nonenzymatic glucose sensing. Herein, we reported a N-doped carbon dodecahedron embedded with Co nanoparticles (Co@NCD) for the direct electro-oxidation of glucose and efficient nonenzymatic glucose detection. Co@NCD was synthesized by the pyrolysis of zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF). Field emission scanning electron microscope, high-resolution transmission electron microscope, powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and nitrogen adsorption-desorption experiments were performed to investigate Co@NCD. A well-defined dodecahedron morphology with uniform size and shape was observed. Besides, the original framework was carbonized after pyrolysis leading to a hollow and porous graphite dodecahedron containing N-doped carbon heterojunction. Moreover, Co nanoparticles were evenly distributed into the dodecahedron. With porous structure, N-doped carbon and embedded Co nanoparticles, Co@NCD displayed a notable electro-catalysis towards the direct oxidation of glucose (onset potential: 0.20 V). By using Co@NCD as electro-catalyst, an efficient nonenzymatic glucose sensor was obtained with a rapid amperometric response (within 1 s), low detection limit (0.11 μM) and broad detection range (0.2 μM–12.0 mM). In addition, remarkable selectivity, repeatability, reproducibility and long-term stability were also observed. Finally, Co@NCD prepared sensor was also successfully applied to the detection of glucose in human serum. Our results suggested that ZIF templated method could be an innovative solution for active composite catalysts in biomolecular electro-catalysis and Co@NCD prepared sensor could be a substantial preferable sensing platform for the nonenzymatic glucose detection.

Binding hierarchical MoSe2 on MOF-derived N-doped carbon dodecahedron for fast and durable sodium-ion storage

Molybdenum diselenide (MoSe2) has drawn a lot of attention for high-performance sodium ion batteries (SIBs) as anode material, for its high theoretical capacity as well as large interlayer distance. Nevertheless, the low capacity and the poor cycling stability greatly hinder their application. Herein, a facile strategy to improve the storage performance of sodium was proposed by the in-situ growth of MoSe2 on zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8)-derived nitrogen doped porous carbon dodecahedron (MoSe2/N-PCD). The N-PCD can provide a fast electron transfer route for the MoSe2, and the robust interface between MoSe2 and N-PCD can relief the structure changes of the electrode during the sodiation/desodiation. When used as an anode for SIBs, the prepared MoSe2/N-PCD electrode displays a large initial specific capacity of 464 mA h g−1 at 0.2 A g−1, and the capacity maintains at 437 mA h g−1 after 500 cycles. Furthermore, at a high current density of 2 A g−1, the electrode can still show a capacity of 223 mA h g−1 after 1000 cycles (capacity retention∼83%). This work demonstrates an effective way to prepare high performance MoSe2 based anode materials for sodium-ion battery.

Iron-incorporated nitrogen-doped carbon materials as oxygen reduction electrocatalysts for zinc-air batteries

The application of electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is vital in a variety of energy conversion technologies. Exploring low-cost ORR catalysts with high activity and long-term stability is highly desirable, although it still remains challenging. Herein, we report a facile and reliable route to convert ZIF-8 modified by Fe-phenanthroline into Fe-incorporated and N-doped carbon dodecahedron nanoarchitecture (Fe-NCDNA), in which carbon nanosheets are formed in situ as the building blocks with uniform Fe-N-C species decoration. Systematic electrochemical studies demonstrate that the as-synthesized Fe-NCDNA electrocatalyst possesses highly attractive catalytic features toward the ORR in terms of activity and durability in both alkaline and neutral media. The Zn-air battery with the optimal Fe-NCDNA catalyst as the cathode performs impressively, delivering a power density of 184 mW cm –2 and a specific capacity of 801 mAh g –1 ; thus, it exhibits great competitive advantages over those of the Zn-air devices employing a Pt-based cathode electro catalyst. The modified ZIF-8 catalyst is converted to Fe-incorporated N-doped carbon catalyst, showing highly attractive catalytic features toward the ORR in alkaline and neutral media. Meanwhile, the Zn-air battery employing Fe-NCDNA-2 as the cathode displays competitive advantages over the device using a Pt-based electrocatalyst.