Plasma-Assisted Formation of Oxygen Defective NiCoO/NiCoN Heterostructure with Improved ORR/OER Activities for Highly Durable All-Solid-State Zinc-Air Batteries

A plasma approach is reported to synthesize carbon cloth supported carbon fiber and oxygen defect-rich NiCoO/NiCoN hetero-nanowire co-integrated hybrid catalyst (P-NCO/NCN-CF@CC), which includes the advanced features of carbon integration, cation doping, defect/vacancy introduction, and heterostructuring. The P-NCO/NCN shows a fascinating structure with the periphery composed of NCO and the interior co-composed of NCO and NCN. Its formation mainly depends on the high reactivity of energetic species of NH, H-a, and H-b formed during the plasma discharge. The P-NCO/NCN-CF@CC exhibits the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity comparable to the Pt/C and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity higher than RuO2. When used in the all-solid-state zinc-air batteries, it gives a high maximum power density of 109.8 mW cm(-2) with no performance drop observed for >300 cycles. The DFT calculations indicate that the NCO/NCN heterostructuring and oxygen defects in NCO play the important roles in the high ORR/OER activities of the catalyst. They can modulate the electronic structure of the catalyst, lowering the energy barriers of rate determining steps.

Automated summary

A plasma approach is used to synthesize a carbon cloth supported carbon fiber and oxygen defect-rich NiCoO/NiCoN hetero-nanowire co-integrated hybrid catalyst. This catalyst exhibits high activity in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). It shows promising potential for application in all-solid-state zinc-air batteries.