Iron-based nanocomposites implanting in N, P Co-doped carbon nanosheets as efficient oxygen reduction electrocatalysts for Zn-Air batteries

Reasonable design and construction of efficient and cost-effective oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts are vital for promoting the practical application of zinc-air batteries (ZABs). Herein, we reported a one-pot self-assemble approach in combination with pyrolysis to prepare nanocomposite electrocatalyst comprised of atomically dispersed Fe-N-x sites and uniformly implanted FeP nanoparticles, which supported on N, P co-doped porous carbon nanosheets (denoted as 2D-FeP@FeNC-900). The 2D-FeP@FeNC-900 exhibits large specific surface area and hierarchical porous structure, along with unique incorporation of FeP, Fe-N-x and N, P co-doping provides abundant active sites and favorable synergistic effect, imparting 2D-FeP@FeNC-900 superior kinetic and electrocatalytic activity towards ORR. Meanwhile, the 2D-FeP@FeNC-900 displays an advantage of methanol-resistance over benchmark Pt/C catalyst. Moreover, the ZABs with 2D-FeP@FeNC-900 achieve superior discharge power density of 260 mW cm(-2), specific capacitance of 803.7 mA h g(-1), and excellent cyclic stability (when combined with RuO2) of over 130 h, surpassing those of Pt/C counterpart. This work provides an effective and generalizable strategy for engineering metal-compound and atomic-sites on dual-doped nanocarbon matrix for sustainable energy conversation and storage devices.

Automated summary

This study reports a self-assembled method to improve the efficiency of zinc-air batteries by preparing nanocomposite electrocatalysts with high activity. The catalyst exhibits superior performance in oxygen reduction reactions and has an advantage of methanol tolerance over traditional platinum catalysts. The combination of zinc-air batteries with this catalyst shows better performance in terms of discharge power density, specific capacitance, and cyclic stability compared to platinum catalysts.