Open AccessNiCo2Se4Nanowires as a High-Performance Bifunctional Oxygen Electrocatalyst
Author(s) -
Hugo Sancho,
Yi Zhang,
Lindong Liu,
Vikas G. Barevadia,
Shaoyang Wu,
Yamin Zhang,
PoWei Huang,
Yifan Zhang,
Tzu−Ho Wu,
Wenqin You,
Nian Liu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of the electrochemical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.258
H-Index - 271
eISSN - 1945-7111
pISSN - 0013-4651
DOI - 10.1149/1945-7111/ab69f9
Subject(s) - overpotential , bifunctional , electrocatalyst , nanowire , oxygen evolution , materials science , cathode , limiting current , chemical engineering , catalysis , nanotechnology , electrochemistry , electrode , chemistry , engineering , biochemistry
Rechargeable zinc–air batteries are attracting great attention due to their high theoretical specific energy, safety, and economic viability. However, their performance and large-scale practical applications are largely limited by poor durability and high overpotential on the air-cathode due to the slow kinetics of the oxygen evolution and reduction reactions (OER/ORR). Therefore, it is highly desired to develop new bifunctional catalysts to improve the OER and ORR kinetics. In this paper, NiCo 2 Se 4 nanowires were uniformly grown on carbon fiber paper (CFP) for the first time. With an overpotential for OER of 327 mV, NiCo 2 Se 4 nanowires show a better performance than RuO 2 (350 mV) and a high stability. Moreover, their half-wave potential of 0.77 V and limiting current density of 3.75 mA·cm −2 make it a promising non-precious-metal catalyst for ORR, with performance close to Pt/C (0.87 V, 3.7 mA·cm −2 ). The excellent performance is attributed to the nanowire morphology with efficient 1D electronic pathways, high conductivity of NiCo 2 Se 4 and an enhanced electronic structure, thanks to a mixed valence of nickel and cobalt ions.