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A Metal‐Free N and P‐Codoped Carbon Nanosphere as Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Rechargeable Zinc‐Air Batteries
Author(s) -
Li Ping,
Jang Haeseong,
Zhang Jian,
Tian Mochong,
Chen Silong,
Yuan Bing,
Wu Zexing,
Liu Xien,
Cho Jaephil
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chemelectrochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.182
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 2196-0216
DOI - 10.1002/celc.201801419
Subject(s) - electrocatalyst , bifunctional , overpotential , oxygen evolution , catalysis , zinc , chemistry , materials science , inorganic chemistry , chemical engineering , metal , electrode , electrochemistry , metallurgy , organic chemistry , engineering
Developing metal‐free electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are crucial for the large‐scale application of fuel cells and metal‐air batteries, which have attracted extensive attention. Herein, a facile and scalable route is developed to prepare N, P‐codoped carbon nanospheres (NPCs) with the assistance of cesium chloride (NPC‐“Cs”). After treatment with hot acid solution, no trace metals are left in the electrocatalyst, as determined by inductively coupled plasma atom emission spectrometry (ICP‐AES). The obtained metal‐free electrocatalyst exhibits outstanding bifunctional catalytic activity for ORR and OER. The half‐wave potential is 0.85 V for ORR in 0.1 M KOH, and an overpotential of 0.34 V for OER in 1 M KOH is required to reach a current density of 10 mA cm −2 . Furthermore, zinc‐air primary and rechargeable batteries assembled with the metal‐free electrocatalyst show similar, or even better performance compared to precious metal‐based devices containing Pt/C or IrO 2 as catalysts. A facile strategy is developed to synthesize the metal free bifunctional electrocatalyst for ORR and OER that is beneficial for the development of new‐energy technologies.