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Fe/Fe2O3 nanoparticles anchored on Fe-N-doped carbon nanosheets as bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts for rechargeable zinc-air batteries

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Abstract

Electrocatalysts with high catalytic activity and stability play a key role in promising renewable energy technologies, such as fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Here, we report the synthesis of Fe/Fe2O3 nanoparticles anchored on Fe-N-doped carbon nanosheets (Fe/Fe2O3@Fe-N-C) using shrimp shell-derived N-doped carbon nanodots as carbon and nitrogen sources in the presence of FeCl3 by a simple pyrolysis approach. Fe/Fe2O3@Fe-N-C obtained at a pyrolysis temperature of 1,000 °C (Fe/Fe2O3@Fe-N-C-1000) possessed a mesoporous structure and high surface area of 747.3 m2·g−1. As an electrocatalyst, Fe/Fe2O3@Fe-N-C-1000 exhibited bifunctional electrocatalytic activities toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline media, comparable to that of commercial Pt/C for ORR and RuO2 for OER, respectively. The Zn-air battery test demonstrated that Fe/Fe2O3@Fe-N-C-1000 had a superior rechargeable performance and cycling stability as an air cathode material with an open circuit voltage of 1.47 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) and a power density of 193 mW·cm−2 at a current density of 220 mA·cm−2. These performances were better than other commercial catalysts with an open circuit voltage of 1.36 V and a power density of 173 mW·cm−2 at a current density of 220 mA·cm−2 (a mixture of commercial Pt/C and RuO2 with a mass ratio of 1:1 was used for the rechargeable Zn-air battery measurements). This work will be helpful to design and develop low-cost and abundant bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts for future metal-air batteries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Centre for Environmental and Energy Nanomaterials, Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, 230031, China

    Yipeng Zang, Haimin Zhang, Xian Zhang, Rongrong Liu, Shengwen Liu, Guozhong Wang, Yunxia Zhang & Huijun Zhao

  2. University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Yipeng Zang, Xian Zhang & Rongrong Liu

  3. Centre for Clean Environment and Energy, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Gold Coast, QLD, 4222, Australia

    Huijun Zhao

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  1. Yipeng Zang
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  2. Haimin Zhang
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  7. Yunxia Zhang
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Correspondence to Haimin Zhang or Huijun Zhao.

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Zang, Y., Zhang, H., Zhang, X. et al. Fe/Fe2O3 nanoparticles anchored on Fe-N-doped carbon nanosheets as bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts for rechargeable zinc-air batteries. Nano Res. 9, 2123–2137 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1102-1

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