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Nano Research 2019, 12(11): 2774-2780 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2512-7
Research Article | Issue | Published: 07 September 2019

2D nanoplate assembled nitrogen doped hollow carbon sphere decorated with Fe3O4 as an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction and Zn-air batteries

Show Author's Information Yanqiang Li1,§( ),  Huiyong Huang1,§,  Siru Chen3( ),  Xin Yu1,  Chao Wang1,  Tingli Ma2( )
State Key Laboratory of Fine ChemicalsSchool of Petroleum and Chemical EngineeringDalian University of TechnologyPanjin CampusPanjin124221China
Graduate School of Life Science and Systems EngineeringKyushu Institute of Technology, 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, 808-0196Japan
Center for Advanced Materials ResearchZhongyuan University of TechnologyZhengzhou450007China

§ Yanqiang Li and Huiyong Huang contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
oxygen reduction reaction, Zn-air battery, Fe3O4 , N doping, hollow microsphere
Topics:
CarbonCatalyst activityDoping (additives)ElectrocatalystsElectrolytic reduction Energy storageFuel cellsIIIron oxidesMagnettiteMicrospheresNanostructuresNitrogenOxygenTin oxidesVI semiconductors
Cite this article:
Li Y, Huang H, Chen S, et al. 2D nanoplate assembled nitrogen doped hollow carbon sphere decorated with Fe3O4 as an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction and Zn-air batteries. Nano Research, 2019, 12(11): 2774-2780. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2512-7
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Designing a highly efficient non-precious based oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst is critical for the commercialization of various sustainable energy storage and conversion devices such as metal-air batteries and fuel cells. Herein, we report a convenient strategy to synthesis Fe3O4 embedded in N doped hollow carbon sphere (NHCS) for ORR. What's interesting is that the carbon microsphere is composed of two-dimensional (2D) nanoplate that could provide more exposed active sites. The usage of solid ZnO nanowires as zinc source is crucial to obtain this structure. The Fe3O4@NHCS-2 exhibits better catalytic activity and durability than the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Moreover, it further displays high-performance of Zn-air batteries as a cathode electrocatalyst with a high-power density of 133 mW·cm-2 and high specific capacity of 701 mA·h·g-1. The special hollow structure composed 2D nanoplate, high surface area, as well as synergistic effect between the high active Fe3O4 nanoparticles and N-doped matrix endows this outstanding catalytic activity. The work presented here can be easily extended to prepare metal compounds decorated carbon nanomaterials with special structure for a broad range of energy storage and conversion devices.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

2D nanoplate assembled nitrogen doped hollow carbon sphere decorated with Fe3O4 as an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction and Zn-air batteries

Show Author's information Yanqiang Li1,§( ), Huiyong Huang1,§, Siru Chen3( ), Xin Yu1, Chao Wang1, Tingli Ma2( )
State Key Laboratory of Fine ChemicalsSchool of Petroleum and Chemical EngineeringDalian University of TechnologyPanjin CampusPanjin124221China
Graduate School of Life Science and Systems EngineeringKyushu Institute of Technology, 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, 808-0196Japan
Center for Advanced Materials ResearchZhongyuan University of TechnologyZhengzhou450007China

§ Yanqiang Li and Huiyong Huang contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Designing a highly efficient non-precious based oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst is critical for the commercialization of various sustainable energy storage and conversion devices such as metal-air batteries and fuel cells. Herein, we report a convenient strategy to synthesis Fe3O4 embedded in N doped hollow carbon sphere (NHCS) for ORR. What's interesting is that the carbon microsphere is composed of two-dimensional (2D) nanoplate that could provide more exposed active sites. The usage of solid ZnO nanowires as zinc source is crucial to obtain this structure. The Fe3O4@NHCS-2 exhibits better catalytic activity and durability than the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Moreover, it further displays high-performance of Zn-air batteries as a cathode electrocatalyst with a high-power density of 133 mW·cm-2 and high specific capacity of 701 mA·h·g-1. The special hollow structure composed 2D nanoplate, high surface area, as well as synergistic effect between the high active Fe3O4 nanoparticles and N-doped matrix endows this outstanding catalytic activity. The work presented here can be easily extended to prepare metal compounds decorated carbon nanomaterials with special structure for a broad range of energy storage and conversion devices.

Keywords: oxygen reduction reaction, Zn-air battery, Fe3O4 , N doping, hollow microsphere

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 19 June 2019
Revised: 15 August 2019
Accepted: 02 September 2019
Published: 07 September 2019
Issue date: November 2019

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51772039), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central University (No. DUT18LK13). The Research Center for Solar Light Energy Conversion, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan also supports this work financially.

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