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Nano Research 2016, 9(7): 2123-2137 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1102-1
Research Article | Issue | Published: 20 May 2016

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

Show Author's Information Yipeng Zang1,2,  Haimin Zhang1( ),  Xian Zhang1,2,  Rongrong Liu1,2,  Shengwen Liu1,  Guozhong Wang1,  Yunxia Zhang1,  Huijun Zhao1,3( )
Key Laboratory of Materials PhysicsCentre for Environmental and Energy NanomaterialsAnhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and NanotechnologyInstitute of Solid State PhysicsChinese Academy of SciencesHefei230031China
University of Science and Technology of ChinaHefei230026China
Centre for Clean Environment and EnergyGriffith UniversityGold Coast CampusGold CoastQLD4222Australia
Keywords:
oxygen reduction reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, N-doped carbon nanodots, Fe/Fe2O3@Fe-N-doped carbon, rechargeable zinc-air battery
Cite this article:
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 Research, 2016, 9(7): 2123-2137. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1102-1
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

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 ℃ (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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About this article

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

Show Author's information Yipeng Zang1,2, Haimin Zhang1( ), Xian Zhang1,2, Rongrong Liu1,2, Shengwen Liu1, Guozhong Wang1, Yunxia Zhang1, Huijun Zhao1,3( )
Key Laboratory of Materials PhysicsCentre for Environmental and Energy NanomaterialsAnhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and NanotechnologyInstitute of Solid State PhysicsChinese Academy of SciencesHefei230031China
University of Science and Technology of ChinaHefei230026China
Centre for Clean Environment and EnergyGriffith UniversityGold Coast CampusGold CoastQLD4222Australia

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 ℃ (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.

Keywords: oxygen reduction reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, N-doped carbon nanodots, Fe/Fe2O3@Fe-N-doped carbon, rechargeable zinc-air battery

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 27 January 2016
Revised: 29 March 2016
Accepted: 14 April 2016
Published: 20 May 2016
Issue date: July 2016

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51372248 and 51432009), the Instrument Developing Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. yz201421) and the CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the CAS Pioneer Hundred Talents Program and the Users with Potential Program (No. 2015HSC- UP006, Hefei Science Center, CAS), China.

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