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Carbon aerogel supported Pt–Zn catalyst and its oxygen reduction catalytic performance in magnesium-air batteries

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Abstract

Our research aims at exploring a new oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst with effective catalytic capability, which can be used in the metal-air batteries. ORR electrocatalysts of carbon black and carbon aerogel supported Pt-based nanoparticles were synthesized by a chemical impregnation reduction method. The electrochemical measurement consisted of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and line scan of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) conducted in alkaline medium as well as the single-cell tests. All the tests indicate that the Pt–Zn/carbon aerogel (Pt–Zn/CA) catalyst, with the specific discharge capacity reaching 1349.5 mA h g−1, exhibits the best catalytic performance among all the tested catalysts. The doping of Zn forms Pt-rich surface, creates more d-band vacancies, and reduces the leaching problem; the use of carbon aerogels brings larger specific surface area. These aspects have all improved the catalytic activity per unit mass.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51274140) and Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No. 20110073130001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Magnesium Materials and Applications & National Engineering Research Center of Light Alloy NetForming, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Yun Zhang, Xiaomei Wu, Xiaoqin Zeng & Wenjiang Ding

  2. Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

    Yanbao Fu

  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan, 48197, USA

    Weidian Shen

  4. State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoqin Zeng & Wenjiang Ding

Authors
  1. Yun Zhang
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  2. Xiaomei Wu
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  3. Yanbao Fu
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  4. Weidian Shen
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  5. Xiaoqin Zeng
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Correspondence to Xiaomei Wu.

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Zhang, Y., Wu, X., Fu, Y. et al. Carbon aerogel supported Pt–Zn catalyst and its oxygen reduction catalytic performance in magnesium-air batteries. Journal of Materials Research 29, 2863–2870 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2014.343

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2014.343

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