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Research Article

Hierarchical porous yolk–shell Co-N-C nanocatalysts encaged in graphene nanopockets for high-performance Zn-air battery

Yisi Liu1(), Zongxu Li1, Shizhu Wang2, Jinnan Xuan1, Dongbin Xiong1, Lina Zhou1, Jianqing Zhou1, Jun Wang1, Yahui Yang3(), Yue Du1()
Institute for Advanced Materials, Hubei Normal University, Huangshi 435002, China
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Materials and Technology for Energy Conversion, College of Material Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
National & Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for New Petro-chemical Materials and Fine Utilization of Resources, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China
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Hierarchical porous yolk–shell Co-N-C nanocatalysts encaged in graphene nanopockets as an efficient cathode electrocatalyst for Zn-air battery.

Abstract

The rational design and preparation of promising cathode electrocatalysts with excellent activity and strong stability for metal-air batteries is a huge challenge. In this work, we innovate an approach of combining solvothermal with high-temperature pyrolysis utilizing zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF)-8 and ZIF-67 as the template to synthesize a novel hybrid material of hierarchical porous yolk–shell Co-N-C polyhedron nanocatalysts engaged in graphene nanopocket (yolk–shell Co-N-C@GNP). The obtained catalyst exhibits prominent bifunctional electrocatalytic performance for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in the alkaline condition, in which the half-wave potential is 0.86 V for ORR, and the over-potential for OER is 0.42 V at 10 mA·cm−2. The rechargeable aqueous Zn-air battery fabricated with yolk–shell Co-N-C@GNP cathode deliveries an open circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.60 V, a peak power density of 236.2 mW·cm−2, and excellent cycling stability over 94 h at 5 mA·cm−2. The quasi-solid-state Zn-air battery (ZAB) using yolk–shell Co-N-C@GNP displays a high OCV of 1.40 V and a small voltage gap of 0.88 V in continuous cycling tests at 2 mA·cm−2. This work provides a valuable thought to focus attention on the design of high-efficient bifunctional catalysts with hierarchical porous yolk–shell framework and high-density metal active sites for metal-air battery technologies.

Keywords

zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF)-67@ZIF-8yolk–shellgraphene nanopocketBi-functional catalystsZn-air battery

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Nano Research
Volume 16 Issue 7,
July 2023
Pages 8893-8901
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-023-5593-2
Cite this article:
Liu Y, Li Z, Wang S, et al. Hierarchical porous yolk–shell Co-N-C nanocatalysts encaged in graphene nanopockets for high-performance Zn-air battery. Nano Research, 2023, 16(7): 8893-8901. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5593-2
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