Boosting the electrochemical performance of Zn-air battery with N/O co- doped biochar catalyst via a simple physical strategy of forced convection intensity

Zn-air batteries (ZAB) is a kind of power battery with great potential. However, it is difficult to improve the electrochemical performance of ZAB by forced convection method similar to the rotating disk elec-trode. Here, the N, O co-doped porous loofah (NPL-900) was prepared by a one-step method, showing a comparable level of half-wave potential as Pt/C. Furthermore, our simulation and experiment jointly confirmed that gas-O2 could be utilized more efficiently than dissolved-O2 during ZAB operation. Therefore, the electrochemical performance of ZAB under different forced convection intensities (FCI) were investigated, which shows that the optimal FCI can significantly improve the power density of the ZAB. These results highlight that appropriate forced convection intensity is capable of maintaining the oxygen molecules and enabling the catalyst for better adsorption and desorption. This work paves the way for a long-term opportunity to improve the electrochemical performance and broad the applica-tion scenarios of ZAB.(c) 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Through experimentation and simulation, it was found that an appropriate forced convection intensity can significantly improve the power density of Zn-air batteries by more efficiently utilizing gas-O2 molecules. This research provides a long-term opportunity to improve the electrochemical performance and broaden the application scenarios of Zn-air batteries.