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Two‐Step Activated Carbon Cloth with Oxygen‐Rich Functional Groups as a High‐Performance Additive‐Free Air Electrode for Flexible Zinc–Air Batteries
Author(s) -
Kordek Karolina,
Jiang Lixue,
Fan Kaicai,
Zhu Zhengju,
Xu Li,
AlMamun Mohammad,
Dou Yuhai,
Chen Shan,
Liu Porun,
Yin Huajie,
Rutkowski Piotr,
Zhao Huijun
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
advanced energy materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.08
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1614-6840
pISSN - 1614-6832
DOI - 10.1002/aenm.201802936
Subject(s) - materials science , overpotential , battery (electricity) , calcination , oxygen evolution , electrode , nanoporous , chemical engineering , activated carbon , oxygen , carbon fibers , zinc , current collector , nanotechnology , catalysis , composite material , electrochemistry , adsorption , metallurgy , chemistry , power (physics) , composite number , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , physics , engineering
A flexible air electrode (FAE) with both high oxygen electrocatalytic activity and excellent flexibility is the key to the performance of various flexible devices, such as Zn–air batteries. A facile two‐step method, mild acid oxidation followed by air calcination that directly activates commercial carbon cloth (CC) to generate uniform nanoporous and super hydrophilic surface structures with optimized oxygen‐rich functional groups and an enhanced surface area, is presented here. Impressively, this two‐step activated CC (CC‐AC) exhibits superior oxygen electrocatalytic activity and durability, outperforming the oxygen‐doped carbon materials reported to date. Especially, CC‐AC delivers an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) overpotential of 360 mV at 10 mA cm −2 in 1 m KOH, which is among the best performances of metal‐free OER electrocatalysts. The practical application of CC‐AC is presented via its use as an FAE in a flexible rechargeable Zn–air battery. The bendable battery achieves a high open circuit voltage of 1.37 V, a remarkable peak power density of 52.3 mW cm −3 at 77.5 mA cm −3 , good cycling performance with a small charge–discharge voltage gap of 0.98 V and high flexibility. This study provides a new approach to the design and construction of high‐performance self‐supported metal‐free electrodes.