1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Smart Sensing Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China 2. Tianjin Workstation, Technology Center of Shanghai Tobacco Group Co. Ltd., Tianjin 300163, China 3. Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Owing to the complexity of electron transfer pathways, the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction process is defined as the bottleneck for the practical application of Zn–air batteries. In this effort, metal nanoparticles (Co, Ni, Fe, etc.) encapsulated within nitrogen-doped carbon materials with abundant edge sites were synthesized by one-step pyrolysis treatment using cigarette butts as raw materials, which can drastically accelerate the overall rate of oxygen evolution reaction by facilitating the adsorption of oxygenated intermediates by the edge-induced topological defects. The prepared catalyst of nitrogen-doped carbon porous nanosheets loaded with Co nanoparticles (Co@NC-500) exhibits enhanced catalytic activity toward oxygen evolution reaction, with a low overpotential of 350 mV at the current density of 10 mA·cm–2. Furthermore, the Zn–air battery assembled with Co@NC-500 catalyst demonstrates a desirable performance affording an open-circuit potential of 1.336 V and power density of 33.6 mW·cm–2, indicating considerable practical application potential.
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C C Weng, J T Ren, H Y Wang, X W Lv, Y J Song, Y S Wang, L Chen, W W Tian, Z Y Yuan. Triple-phase oxygen electrocatalysis of hollow spherical structures for rechargeable Zn−air batteries. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2022, 307: 121190 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2022.121190
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Q H Kong, X W Lv, C C Weng, J T Ren, W W Tian, Z Y Yuan. Curving engineering of hollow concave-shaped rhombic dodecahedrons of N-doped carbon encapsulated with Fe-doped Co/Co3O4 nanoparticles for an efficient oxygen reduction reaction and Zn–air batteries. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2022, 10(34): 11441–11450 https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c03952
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H Pang, P Sun, H Gong, N Zhang, J Cao, R Zhang, M Luo, Y Li, G Sun, Y Li, J Deng, M Gao, M Wang, B Kong. Wood-derived bimetallic and heteroatomic hierarchically porous carbon aerogel for rechargeable flow Zn–air batteries. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2021, 13(33): 39458–39469 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c10925
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X Guo, N Yang, Z Zhu, Y Zhang, J Chen, J Qi, X Li. Iron-cobalt phosphide nanoarrays grown on waste wool-derived carbon: an efficient electrocatalyst for degradation of tetracycline. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 2022, 10(6): 108788 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2022.108788
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Z P Hu, L F Zhang, Z Wang, Z Y Yuan. Bean dregs-derived hierarchical porous carbons as metal-free catalysts for efficient dehydrogenation of propane to propylene. Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, 2018, 93(12): 3410–3417 https://doi.org/10.1002/jctb.5698
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Z P Hu, H Zhao, C Chen, Z Y Yuan. Castanea mollissima shell-derived porous carbons as metal-free catalysts for highly efficient dehydrogenation of propane to propylene. Catalysis Today, 2018, 316: 214–222 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2018.01.010
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X Zheng, X Cao, K Zeng, Z Sun, J Yan, X Li, C Jin, X Chen, R Yang. Cotton pad-derived large-area 3D N-doped graphene-like full carbon cathode with an O-rich functional group for flexible all solid Zn–air batteries. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2020, 8(22): 11202–11209 https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TA00014K
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J T Ren, Z Y Yuan. A universal route to N-coordinated metals anchored on porous carbon nanosheets for highly efficient oxygen electrochemistry. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2019, 7(22): 13591–13601 https://doi.org/10.1039/C9TA03300A
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X W Lv, Z P Hu, L Chen, J T Ren, Y P Liu, Z Y Yuan. Organic-inorganic metal phosphonate-derived nitrogen-doped core-shell Ni2P nanoparticles supported on Ni foam for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction at all pH values. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2019, 7(15): 12770–12778 https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b01355
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W Ding, Z Wei, S Chen, X Qi, T Yang, J Hu, D Wang, L J Wan, S F Alvi, L Li. Space-confinement-induced synthesis of pyridinic- and pyrrolic-nitrogen-doped graphene for the catalysis of oxygen reduction. Angewandte Chemie, 2013, 52(45): 11971–11975 https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.201303924
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L Yang, X Zeng, D Wang, D Cao. Biomass-derived FeNi alloy and nitrogen-codoped porous carbons as highly efficient oxygen reduction and evolution bifunctional electrocatalysts for rechargeable Zn−air battery. Energy Storage Materials, 2018, 12: 277–283 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ensm.2018.02.011
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