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Dual‐Template Pore Engineering of Whey Powder‐Derived Carbon as an Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction Electrocatalyst for Primary Zinc‐Air Battery
Author(s) -
Yan Shunyao,
Yu Zixun,
Liu Chang,
Yuan Ziwen,
Wang Chaojun,
Chen Junsheng,
Wei Li,
Chen Yuan
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemistry – an asian journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.18
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1861-471X
pISSN - 1861-4728
DOI - 10.1002/asia.202000399
Subject(s) - electrocatalyst , catalysis , chemical engineering , battery (electricity) , carbon fibers , heteroatom , limiting current , mesoporous material , materials science , zinc , energy storage , electrochemistry , inorganic chemistry , nanotechnology , chemistry , electrode , metallurgy , organic chemistry , composite material , ring (chemistry) , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics , composite number , engineering
Cost‐effective and high‐performance electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) are needed for many energy storage and conversion devices. Here, we demonstrate that whey powder, a major by‐product in the dairy industry, can be used as a sustainable precursor to produce heteroatom doped carbon electrocatalysts for ORR. Rich N and S compounds in whey powders can generate abundant catalytic active sites. However, these sites are not easily accessible by reactants of ORR. A dual‐template method was used to create a hierarchically and interconnected porous structure with micropores created by ZnCl 2 and large mesopores generated by fumed SiO 2 particles. At the optimum mass ratio of whey power: ZnCl 2 : SiO 2 at 1 : 3 : 0.8, the resulting carbon material has a large specific surface area close to 2000 m 2 g −1 , containing 4.6 at.% of N with 39.7% as pyridinic N. This carbon material shows superior electrocatalytic activity for ORR, with an electron transfer number of 3.88 and a large kinetic limiting current density of 45.40 mA cm −2 . They were employed as ORR catalysts to assemble primary zinc‐air batteries, which deliver a power density of 84.1 mW cm −2 and a specific capacity of 779.5 mAh g −1 , outperforming batteries constructed using a commercial Pt/C catalyst. Our findings open new opportunities to use an abundant biomaterial, whey powder, to create high‐value‐added carbon electrocatalysts for emerging energy applications.