Carbon nanotube supported bifunctional electrocatalysts containing iron-nitrogen-carbon active sites for zinc-air batteries

Bifunctional electrocatalysts with high activity toward both oxygen reduction and evolution reaction are highly desirable for rechargeable Zn-air batteries. Herein, a kind of carbon nanotube (CNT) supported single-site Fe-N-C catalyst was fabricated via pyrolyzing in-situ grown Fe-containing zeolitic imidazolate frameworks on CNTs. CNTs not only serve as the physical supports of the Fe-N-C active sites but also provide a conductive network to facilitate the fast electron and ion transfer. The as-synthesized catalysts exhibit a half-wave potential of 0.865 V for oxygen reduction reaction and a low overpotential of 0.442 V at 10 mA.cm(-2) for oxygen evolution, which is 310 mV smaller than that of Fe-N-C without CNTs. The rechargeable Zn-air batteries fabricated with such hybrid catalysts display a high peak power density of 182 mW.cm(-2) and an excellent cycling stability of over 1,000 h at 10 mA.cm(-2), which outperforms commercial Pt-C and most of the reported catalysts. This facile strategy of combining single-site Metal-N-C with CNTs network is effective for preparing highly active bifunctional electrocatalysts.

Automated summary

The fabrication of Fe-N-C catalysts supported by carbon nanotubes enhances the activity of bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions, leading to improved performance of rechargeable Zn-air batteries.