Electrospinning Synthesis of Self-Standing Cobalt/Nanocarbon Hybrid Membrane for Long-Life Rechargeable Zinc-Air Batteries

Integrating high-efficiency oxygen electrocatalyst directly into air electrodes is vital for zinc-air batteries to achieve higher electrochemical performance. Herein, a self-standing membrane composed of hierarchical cobalt/nanocarbon nanofibers is fabricated by the electrospinning technique. This hybrid membrane can be directly employed as the bifunctional air electrode in zinc-air batteries and can achieve a high peak power density of 304 mW cm(-2) with a long service life of 1500 h at 5 mA cm(-2). Its assembled solid-state zinc-air battery also delivers a promising power density of 176 mW cm(-2) with decent flexibility. The impressive rechargeable battery performance would be attributed to the self-standing membrane architecture integrated by oxygen electrocatalysts with abundant cobalt-nitrogen-carbon active species in the hierarchical electrode. This study may provide effective electrospinning solutions in integrating efficient electrocatalyst and electrode for energy storage and conversion technologies.

Automated summary

A self-standing membrane composed of hierarchical cobalt/nanocarbon nanofibers was fabricated using the electrospinning technique, which can be directly utilized as the bifunctional air electrode in zinc-air batteries to achieve high peak power density and long service life. The assembled solid-state zinc-air battery exhibits promising power density and decent flexibility, thanks to the integration of oxygen electrocatalysts with abundant cobalt-nitrogen-carbon active species in the hierarchical electrode structure.