N-doped defective carbon with trace Co for efficient rechargeable liquid electrolyte-/all-solid-state Zn-air batteries

Simple synthesis of multifunctional electrocatalysts with plentiful active sites from earth-abundant materials is especially fascinating. Here, N-doped defective carbon with trace Co (1.5 wt%) was prepared via a scalable one pot solid pyrolysis process. The sample exhibits efficient bifunctional OER/ORR activity in alkaline, mainly ascribed to the unique micro-mesoporous structure (1-3 nm), high population of graphitic-N doping (up to 49.0%), abundant defects and the encapsulated Co nanoparticles with graphitized carbon. The according rechargeable liquid Zn-air batteries showed excellent performance (maximum power density of 154.0 mW cm(2); energy density of 773 Wh kg(1) at 5 mA cm(2) and charging-discharging cycling stability over 100 cycles). As a proof-of-concept, the flexible, rechargeable all-solid-state Zn-air batteries were constructed, and displayed a maximum power density as high as 45.9 mW cm(2), among the top level of those reported previously. (C) 2018 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science China Press. All rights reserved.