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Wood-derived integrated air electrode with Co-N sites for rechargeable zinc-air batteries

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Abstract

The sluggish reaction kinetics in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is one of the bottlenecks in next generation energy conversion systems. The integrated design strategy based on simultaneously constructing active sites and forming porous carbon network will address this concern by facilitating charge exchange, mass transfer and electron transportation. In this article, a three-dimensional integrated air electrode (Co-N@ACS) containing Co-N sites and hierarchically porous carbon is fabricated via growth of Co-doped ZIF-8 in activated wood substrate and synchronous pyrolysis. The optimized integrated air electrodes exhibit ultrahigh ORR activity (E1/2 = 0.86 V). Co-N sites provide outstanding ORR activity, and hierarchically porous structures facilitate oxygen diffusion and electrolyte penetration. Aqueous zinc-air battery assembled with Co-N@ACS possesses open-circuit voltage of 1.46 V, peak power density of 155 mW·cm−2 and long-term stability of 540 cycles (180 h). Solid-state zinc-air battery assembled with Co-N@ACS shows open-circuit voltage up to 1.36 V and low charge-discharge voltage gap (0.8 V). This design strategy paves the way for the conversion of wood biomass to integrated air electrodes and catalytically active carbon for next generation energy storage and conversion devices.

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Acknowledgements

The support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 31901272 and 22075254) is acknowledged. All the authors thank the Communist Party of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center of Green Catalysis, College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, 100 Science Road, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Benji Zhou, Yanyan Liu, Xianli Wu, Huan Liu, Yi Wang, Sehrish Mehdi & Baojun Li

  2. Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, CAF, National Engineering Lab for Biomass Chemical Utilization, Nanjing, 210042, China

    Yanyan Liu & Jianchun Jiang

  3. College of Science, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450002, China

    Yanyan Liu

  4. CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafery, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, China

    Tao Liu

  5. Department of Chemistry, The Women University, Kutchery Campus, L.M.Q. Road, Multan, 66000, Pakistan

    Sehrish Mehdi

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  1. Benji Zhou
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  2. Yanyan Liu
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  3. Xianli Wu
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  4. Huan Liu
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  5. Tao Liu
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  8. Jianchun Jiang
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  9. Baojun Li
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Correspondence to Yanyan Liu or Jianchun Jiang.

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Zhou, B., Liu, Y., Wu, X. et al. Wood-derived integrated air electrode with Co-N sites for rechargeable zinc-air batteries. Nano Res. 15, 1415–1423 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3678-3

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