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Research Article

Engineering adjacent Fe3C as proton-feeding centers to single Fe sites enabling boosted oxygen reduction reaction kinetics for robust Zn-air batteries at high current densities

Canhui Zhang, Xingkun Wang( ), Kai Song, Kaiyue Chen, Shuixing Dai, Huanlei Wang, Minghua Huang( )
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
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Graphical Abstract

In this work, we deliberately engineer the adjacent Fe3C nanoparticles to single Fe sites on the bubble-wrap-like porous N-doped carbon (Fe3C@FeSA-NC), in which the Fe3C nanoparticles could accelerate the water dissociation and serve as proton-feeding centers for boosting the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics of single Fe sites. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of the Fe3C and single Fe sites, the Fe3C@FeSA-NC exhibits an excellent half-wave potential of 0.88 V, and enables the assembled Zn-air batteries with the high peak power density of 164.5 mW·cm−2 and long-term stability of over 200 h at high current densities of 50 mA·cm−2.

Abstract

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) plays an important role in the next-generation energy storage technologies, whereas it involves the sluggish and complicated proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) steps that greatly limit the ORR kinetics. Therefore, it is urgent to construct an efficient catalyst that could simultaneously achieve the rapid oxygen-containing intermediates conversion and fast PCET process but remain challenging. Herein, the adjacent Fe3C nanoparticles coupling with single Fe sites on the bubble-wrap-like porous N-doped carbon (Fe3C@FeSA-NC) were deliberately constructed. Theoretical investigations reveal that the adjacent Fe3C nanoparticles speed up the water dissociation and serve as proton-feeding centers for boosting the ORR kinetics of single Fe sites. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of the Fe3C and single Fe sites, the Fe3C@FeSA-NC affords an excellent half-wave potential of 0.88 V, and enables the assembled Zn-air batteries with the high peak power density of 164.5 mW·cm−2 and long-term stability of over 200 h at high current densities at 50 mA·cm−2. This work clarifies the mechanism for improving ORR kinetics of single atomic sites by engineering the adjacent proton-feeding centers, shedding light on the rational design of cost-effective electrocatalysts for energy conversion and storage technologies.

Keywords

oxygen reduction reactiondischarge stabilitywater dissociationproton-coupled electron transfer

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Nano Research
Volume 16 Issue 7,
July 2023
Pages 9371-9378
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-023-5578-1
Cite this article:
Zhang C, Wang X, Song K, et al. Engineering adjacent Fe3C as proton-feeding centers to single Fe sites enabling boosted oxygen reduction reaction kinetics for robust Zn-air batteries at high current densities. Nano Research, 2023, 16(7): 9371-9378. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5578-1
Topics:
Zinc air batteries

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Received: 01 February 2023
Revised: 11 February 2023
Accepted: 13 February 2023
Published: 28 March 2023
© Tsinghua University Press 2023
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