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Nano Research 2022, 15(7): 5895-5901 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4243-4
Research Article | Issue | Published: 20 April 2022

Constructing a stable cobalt-nitrogen-carbon air cathode from coordinatively unsaturated zeolitic-imidazole frameworks for rechargeable zinc-air batteries

Show Author's Information Tingting Wang,  Meng Liu,  Somboon Chaemchuen,  Jichao Wang,  Ye Yuan,  Cheng Chen,  Ang Qiao( ),  Francis Verpoort( ),  Zongkui Kou( )
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Keywords:
flexible electrode, zinc-air battery, coordinatively unsaturated zeolitic-imidazole frameworks (ZIFs), cobalt-nitrogen-carbon, bifunctional air electrodes
Topics:
Electrocatalysts
Cite this article:
Wang T, Liu M, Chaemchuen S, et al. Constructing a stable cobalt-nitrogen-carbon air cathode from coordinatively unsaturated zeolitic-imidazole frameworks for rechargeable zinc-air batteries. Nano Research, 2022, 15(7): 5895-5901. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4243-4
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Zeolitic-imidazole frameworks (ZIFs) derivations have widely emerged as an efficient air cathode of zinc-air batteries (ZABs) due to excellent bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis performance. However, they are not stable enough for long-term operation of rechargeable ZABs because of weak association with current collector, especially under bending conditions for flexible ZAB devices. Here, we show that by purposely designing coordinatively unsaturated ZIFs via a facile morphology regulation, which can be chemically linked on acid-treated carbon cloth, a stable Co-N-C air cathode is therefore derived where Co nanoparticles (NPs) are uniformly confined within the Co-N-C matrix on carbon cloth (Co/Co-N-C/CC). Specifically, when without being stabilized from carbon cloth, the pyrolysis of ZIFs with different unsaturated coordination levels has a negligible impact on the bifunctional oxygen-catalyzed performance. The optimal Co/Co-N-C/CC catalyst assembled ZAB possesses a large open circuit voltage of 1.415 V and a high peak power density of 163 mW·cm−2 as well as excellent cycling durability upon 630 discharge–charge cycles with 61% voltage efficiency remained, largely exceeding those of a benchmark Pt/C-IrO2 catalyst assembled ZAB. The synergy between Co NPs and active Co-N-C sites via electronic interaction induces the outstanding bifunctional oxygen-catalyzed activity and cathode performance. The present work highlights the importance of unsaturated coordination structures in ZIFs precursors for the performance of derived nanostructures in integrated electrodes.


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About this article

Constructing a stable cobalt-nitrogen-carbon air cathode from coordinatively unsaturated zeolitic-imidazole frameworks for rechargeable zinc-air batteries

Show Author's information Tingting Wang, Meng Liu, Somboon Chaemchuen, Jichao Wang, Ye Yuan, Cheng Chen, Ang Qiao( ), Francis Verpoort( ), Zongkui Kou( )
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China

Abstract

Zeolitic-imidazole frameworks (ZIFs) derivations have widely emerged as an efficient air cathode of zinc-air batteries (ZABs) due to excellent bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis performance. However, they are not stable enough for long-term operation of rechargeable ZABs because of weak association with current collector, especially under bending conditions for flexible ZAB devices. Here, we show that by purposely designing coordinatively unsaturated ZIFs via a facile morphology regulation, which can be chemically linked on acid-treated carbon cloth, a stable Co-N-C air cathode is therefore derived where Co nanoparticles (NPs) are uniformly confined within the Co-N-C matrix on carbon cloth (Co/Co-N-C/CC). Specifically, when without being stabilized from carbon cloth, the pyrolysis of ZIFs with different unsaturated coordination levels has a negligible impact on the bifunctional oxygen-catalyzed performance. The optimal Co/Co-N-C/CC catalyst assembled ZAB possesses a large open circuit voltage of 1.415 V and a high peak power density of 163 mW·cm−2 as well as excellent cycling durability upon 630 discharge–charge cycles with 61% voltage efficiency remained, largely exceeding those of a benchmark Pt/C-IrO2 catalyst assembled ZAB. The synergy between Co NPs and active Co-N-C sites via electronic interaction induces the outstanding bifunctional oxygen-catalyzed activity and cathode performance. The present work highlights the importance of unsaturated coordination structures in ZIFs precursors for the performance of derived nanostructures in integrated electrodes.

Keywords: flexible electrode, zinc-air battery, coordinatively unsaturated zeolitic-imidazole frameworks (ZIFs), cobalt-nitrogen-carbon, bifunctional air electrodes

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 24 January 2022
Revised: 11 February 2022
Accepted: 15 February 2022
Published: 20 April 2022
Issue date: July 2022

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 40120631) and Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (No. 20211j0188).

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