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Research Article

Bead-like cobalt-nitrogen co-doped carbon nanocage/carbon nanofiber composite: A high-performance oxygen reduction electrocatalyst for zinc-air batteries

Bo Zhang1,§Yige Zhao1,§Lu Li1Yukun Li1Jin Zhang2Guosheng Shao1Peng Zhang1( )
State Center for International Cooperation on Designer Low-carbon and Environmental Materials (CDLCEM), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Process and Technology for Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China

§ Bo Zhang and Yige Zhao contributed equally to this work.

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Graphical Abstract

By one-step electrospinning method and subsequent pyrolysis, we have prepared a bead-like composite electrocatalyst (Co-N-C/CNF) with the porous carbon nanocages arranged one by one in the highly conductive carbon nanofibers. Profiting from the fully exposed active sites and improved conductivity, the Co-N-C/CNF catalyst exhibits an excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance and has promising applications in zinc-air batteries.

Abstract

Proper regulation of metal-nitrogen carbon (M-N-C) materials derived from zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) is essential to enhance the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance. However, most of the reports focus on the component regulation, and the structure regulation of ZIFs-derived M-N-C materials by a simple preparation method has been barely reported. Herein, using a one-step electrospinning method with subsequent pyrolysis, we have prepared a bead-like cobalt-nitrogen co-doped carbon nanocage/carbon nanofiber (Co-N-C/CNF) composite electrocatalyst with the porous carbon nanocages arranged one by one in the highly conductive carbon nanofibers. Profiting from the fully exposed active sites and improved conductivity, the Co-N-C/CNF catalyst exhibits an excellent ORR performance even surpassing the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Density functional theory (DFT) results demonstrate that the CoNP-N1-C2 active sites on Co-N-C/CNF make the core contribution to the improvement of ORR properties. Moreover, the zinc-air battery (ZAB) based on the Co-N-C/CNF catalyst also shows outstanding discharge performance. This study provides a new strategy for the preparation and structural design for ZIFs-derived M-N-C materials as efficient ORR catalysts.

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Nano Research
Pages 545-554
Cite this article:
Zhang B, Zhao Y, Li L, et al. Bead-like cobalt-nitrogen co-doped carbon nanocage/carbon nanofiber composite: A high-performance oxygen reduction electrocatalyst for zinc-air batteries. Nano Research, 2023, 16(1): 545-554. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4972-4
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Received: 07 July 2022
Revised: 26 August 2022
Accepted: 27 August 2022
Published: 21 September 2022
© Tsinghua University Press 2022
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