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Nitrogen-Doped Mesoporous Carbon Layer with Embedded Co/CoOx Nanoparticles Coated on CNTs for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Zn–Air Battery

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Abstract

One-dimension (1D) heteroatom-doped mesoporous carbon is a promising alternative catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). This work reported a hybrid ORR electrocatalyst composed of Co/CoOx nanoparticles embedded in N-doped mesoporous carbon layer coated on carbon nanotubes (CNTs@Co–N–C). Owing to the 1D mesoporous architecture with abundant active sites, CNTs@Co–N–C hybrid showed superior ORR activity, high selectivity, and long-term durability. Moreover, as cathode catalyst for primary Zn–air battery, CNTs@Co–N–C also showed excellent performance comparable to Pt/C. Thus, this study can offer a good idea for preparing noble-metal-free electrocatalysts for energy applications.

A 1D hybrid electrocatalyst composed of Co/CoOx nanoparticles embedded in N-doped mesoporous carbon layer coated on carbon nanotubes (CNTs@Co–N–C) was prepared for efficient ORR.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX18_2147 and SJKY19_2076), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21506086, No. 21606033, No. 21606115, and No. 21776119), TAPP, and Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.

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  1. Xiaowen Chen and Si Wang co-equally contributed to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Green Synthetic for Functional Materials, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, 221116, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaowen Chen, Si Wang, Yan Wang, Zheng Yang, Sa Liu, Jingxia Gao, Ziqian Su & Ping Zhu

  2. School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, 221116, People’s Republic of China

    Xinsheng Zhao

  3. School of Light Industry & Chemical Engineering, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian, 116034, People’s Republic of China

    Guoxiang Wang

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  1. Xiaowen Chen
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Correspondence to Sa Liu, Ping Zhu or Xinsheng Zhao.

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Chen, X., Wang, S., Wang, Y. et al. Nitrogen-Doped Mesoporous Carbon Layer with Embedded Co/CoOx Nanoparticles Coated on CNTs for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Zn–Air Battery. Electrocatalysis 10, 277–286 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12678-019-00527-4

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