AI Chat Paper
Note: Please note that the following content is generated by AMiner AI. SciOpen does not take any responsibility related to this content.
{{lang === 'zh_CN' ? '文章概述' : 'Summary'}}
{{lang === 'en_US' ? '中' : 'Eng'}}
Chat more with AI
Powered by AMiner. Clicking this button will take you away from SciOpen.
Home Nano Research Article
Article Link
Cite
EndNote(RIS) BibTeX
Collect
Submit Manuscript
Show Outline
Outline
Show full outline
Hide outline
Outline
Show full outline
Hide outline
Research Article

Yolk–shell FeCu/NC electrocatalyst boosting high-performance zinc-air battery

Chen Liang1, Tianyu Zhang1, Shilun Sun1, Aijuan Han1, Zenghui Qiu2,3( ), Haijun Xu2,3( ), Junfeng Liu1( )
State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
College of Mathematics & Physics, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
Beijing Bioprocess Key Laboratory, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
Show Author Information

Graphical Abstract

By combining the advantages of Fe single-atom/Cu cluster complex sites with the yolk–shell structure, the yolk–shell FeCu/NC demonstrates exceptionally high half-wave potential and outstanding zinc-air battery performance.

Abstract

Iron–nitrogen–carbon single-atom catalysts (Fe–N–C SACs) are widely acknowledged for their effective oxygen reduction activity, however, their activity requires further enhancement. Meanwhile, additional structural optimization is necessary to enhance mass transport and achieve higher power density in practical applications. Herein, using ZIF-8 as a template, we synthesized yolk–shell catalysts featuring complex sites of Fe single atoms and Cu nanoclusters (y-FeCu/NC) via partial etching and liquid-phase loading. The synthesized y-FeCu/NC catalyst exhibits high specific surface area and mesoporous volume. Combined with the advantages of highly active sites and yolk–shell structure, the y-FeCu/NC catalyst demonstrated outstanding catalytic performance in the oxygen reduction reaction, achieving a half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.97 V in 0.1 M KOH. As a practical energy device, Zn-air battery (ZAB) assembled with y-FeCu/NC catalyst achieved a remarkable power density of 356.3 mW·cm–2, representing an improvement of approximately 28.5% compared to its solid FeCu/NC counterpart. Furthermore, it showcased impressive stability, surpassing all control samples.

Keywords

oxygen reduction reactionyolk–shell structurezinc-air batteryatomic Fe-N4 sitesCu nanoclusters

Electronic Supplementary Material

Download File(s)
6766_ESM.pdf (5.4 MB)

References

[1]

Lin, J.; Zhang, X. D.; Fan, E. S.; Chen, R. J.; Wu, F.; Li, L. Carbon neutrality strategies for sustainable batteries: From structure, recycling, and properties to applications. Energy Environ. Sci. 2023, 16, 745–791.
Crossref Google Scholar
[2]

Wang, S.; Chu, Y. Y.; Lan, C.; Liu, C. P.; Ge, J. J.; Xing, W. Metal-nitrogen-carbon catalysts towards acidic ORR in PEMFC: Fundamentals, durability challenges, and improvement strategies. Chem. Synth. 2023, 3, 15.
Crossref Google Scholar
[3]

Mu, X. Q.; Zhang, X. Y.; Chen, Z. Y.; Gao, Y.; Yu, M.; Chen, D.; Pan, H. Z.; Liu, S. L.; Wang, D. S.; Mu, S. C. Constructing symmetry-mismatched Ru x Fe3– x O4 heterointerface-supported Ru clusters for efficient hydrogen evolution and oxidation reactions. Nano Lett. 2024, 24, 1015–1023.
Crossref Google Scholar
[4]

Mu, X. Q.; Liu, S. L.; Zhang, M. Y.; Zhuang, Z. C.; Chen, D.; Liao, Y. R.; Zhao, H. Y.; Mu, S. C.; Wang, D. S.; Dai, Z. H. Symmetry-broken Ru nanoparticles with parasitic Ru-Co dual-single atoms overcome the Volmer step of alkaline hydrogen oxidation. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2024, 63, e202319618.
Crossref Google Scholar
[5]

Guo, Y. Y.; Cao, Y. H.; Lu, J. D.; Zheng, X. R.; Deng, Y. D. The concept, structure, and progress of seawater metal-air batteries. Microstructures 2023, 3, 2023038.
Crossref Google Scholar
[6]

Wang, Q. C.; Kaushik, S.; Xiao, X.; Xu, Q. Sustainable zinc-air battery chemistry: Advances, challenges and prospects. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2023, 52, 6139–6190.
Crossref Google Scholar
[7]

Xiao, X.; Zhao, H.; Li, L. F.; Qu, B. L.; Wu, Y. L.; Zhu, Y. L.; Chen, B. B.; Pan, G. Ion exchange coupled biomineral self-sacrificial template synthesis of N-enriched porous carbon as robust electrocatalyst for rechargeable Zn-air battery. Rare Met. 2023, 42, 1186–1194.
Crossref Google Scholar
[8]

Li, L.; Li, N.; Xia, J. W.; Xing, H. R.; Arif, M.; Zhao, Y. T.; He, G. Y.; Chen, H. Q. Post-synthetic electrostatic adsorption-assisted fabrication of efficient single-atom Fe-N-C oxygen reduction catalysts for Zn-air batteries. Sci. China Mater. 2023, 66, 992–1001.
Crossref Google Scholar
[9]

Wang, T. T.; Huang, J. C.; Sang, W.; Zhou, C.; Zhang, B. H.; Zhu, W.; Du, K.; Kou, Z. K.; Wang, S. X. Correlative Mn-Co catalyst excels Pt in oxygen reduction reaction of quasi-solid-state zinc-air batteries. Nano Res. 2024, 17, 4118–4124.
Crossref Google Scholar
[10]

Xiao, F.; Wang, Q.; Xu, G. L.; Qin, X. P.; Hwang, I.; Sun, C. J.; Liu, M.; Hua, W.; Wu, H. W.; Zhu, S. Q. et al. Atomically dispersed Pt and Fe sites and Pt-Fe nanoparticles for durable proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Nat. Catal. 2022, 5, 503–512.
Crossref Google Scholar
[11]

Han, A. J.; Wang, B. Q.; Kumar, A.; Qin, Y. J.; Jin, J.; Wang, X. H.; Yang, C.; Dong, B.; Jia, Y.; Liu, J. F. et al. Recent advances for MOF-derived carbon-supported single-atom catalysts. Small Methods 2019, 3, 1800471.
Crossref Google Scholar
[12]

Wang, Y.; Wang, L.; Fu, H. G. Research progress of Fe-N-C catalysts for the electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction. Sci. China Mater. 2022, 65, 1701–1722.
Crossref Google Scholar
[13]
Zhao, Y. L.; Tian, Z. B.; Wang, W. Q.; Deng, X. H.; Tseng, J. C.; Wang, G. H. Size-dependent activity of Fe-N-doped mesoporous carbon nanoparticles towards oxygen reduction reaction. Green Carbon, in press, DOI: 10.1016/j.greenca.2024.03.002.
[14]

Shi, Q. R.; Hwang, S.; Yang, H. P.; Ismail, F.; Su, D.; Higgins, D.; Wu, G. Supported and coordinated single metal site electrocatalysts. Mater. Today 2020, 37, 93–111.
Crossref Google Scholar
[15]

Shu, X. X.; Tan, D. X.; Wang, Y. Q.; Ma, J. Z.; Zhang, J. T. Bimetal-bridging nitrogen coordination in carbon-based electrocatalysts for pH‐universal oxygen reduction. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2024, 136, e202316005.
Crossref Google Scholar
[16]

Zhao, J. Y.; Li, P.; Fan, K. C.; Wei, W. J.; Lu, F. H.; Zhao, H. M.; Li, B.; Zong, L. B.; Wang, L. Spatial confinement of zeolitic imidazolate framework deposits by porous carbon nanospheres for dual-atom catalyst towards high-performance oxygen reduction reaction. Nano Res. 2023, 16, 11464–11472.
Crossref Google Scholar
[17]

Wang, Y.; Wu, J.; Tang, S. H.; Yang, J. R.; Ye, C. L.; Chen, J.; Lei, Y. P.; Wang, D. S. Synergistic Fe-Se atom pairs as bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts boost low-temperature rechargeable Zn-air battery. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202219191.
Crossref Google Scholar
[18]

Wu, Y. J.; Wu, X. H.; Tu, T. X.; Zhang, P. F.; Li, J. T.; Zhou, Y.; Huang, L.; Sun, S. G. Controlled synthesis of FeN x -CoN x dual active sites interfaced with metallic Co nanoparticles as bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts for rechargeable Zn-air batteries. Appl. Catal. B Environ. 2020, 278, 119259.
Crossref Google Scholar
[19]

Peng, L. S.; Yang, J.; Yang, Y. Q.; Qian, F. R.; Wang, Q.; Sun-Waterhouse, D.; Shang, L.; Zhang, T. R.; Waterhouse, G. I. N. Mesopore-rich Fe-N-C catalyst with FeN4-O-NC single-atom sites delivers remarkable oxygen reduction reaction performance in alkaline media. Adv. Mater. 2022, 34, 2202544.
Crossref Google Scholar
[20]

Yang, J. R.; Li, W. H.; Wang, D. S.; Li, Y. D. Electronic metal-support interaction of single-atom catalysts and applications in electrocatalysis. Adv. Mater. 2020, 32, 2003300.
Crossref Google Scholar
[21]

Yang, J.; Wang, Z. Y.; Huang, C. X.; Zhang, Y. D.; Zhang, Q. H.; Chen, C.; Du, J. Y.; Zhou, X.; Zhang, Y.; Zhou, H. et al. Compressive strain modulation of single iron sites on helical carbon support boosts electrocatalytic oxygen reduction. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 22722–22728.
Crossref Google Scholar
[22]

Ao, X.; Zhang, W.; Li, Z. S.; Li, J. G.; Soule, L.; Huang, X.; Chiang, W. H.; Chen, H. M.; Wang, C. D.; Liu, M. L. et al. Markedly enhanced oxygen reduction activity of single-atom Fe catalysts via integration with Fe nanoclusters. ACS Nano 2019, 13, 11853–11862.
Crossref Google Scholar
[23]

Zhang, Y. F.; Liu, L. S.; Li, Y. X.; Mu, X. Q.; Mu, S. C.; Liu, S. L.; Dai, Z. H. Strong synergy between physical and chemical properties: Insight into optimization of atomically dispersed oxygen reduction catalysts. J. Energy Chem. 2024, 91, 36–49.
Crossref Google Scholar
[24]

Zhang, K. X.; Zhang, Y. L.; Zhang, Q. H.; Liang, Z. B.; Gu, L.; Guo, W. H.; Zhu, B. J.; Guo, S. J.; Zou, R. Q. Metal-organic framework-derived Fe/Cu-substituted Co nanoparticles embedded in CNTs-grafted carbon polyhedron for Zn-air batteries. Carbon Energy 2020, 2, 283–293.
Crossref Google Scholar
[25]

Zhang, T. Y.; Han, X.; Yang, H. B.; Han, A. J.; Hu, E. Y.; Li, Y. P.; Yang, X. Q.; Wang, L.; Liu, J. F.; Liu, B. Atomically dispersed nickel(I) on an alloy-encapsulated nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube array for high-performance electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 12055–12061.
Crossref Google Scholar
[26]

Gan, T.; Wang, D. S. Atomically dispersed materials: Ideal catalysts in atomic era. Nano Res. 2024, 17, 18–38.
Crossref Google Scholar
[27]

Liang, C.; Han, X.; Zhang, T. Y.; Dong, B.; Li, Y. P.; Zhuang, Z. B.; Han, A. J.; Liu, J. F. Cu nanoclusters accelerate the rate-determining step of oxygen reduction on Fe-N-C in all pH range. Adv. Energy Mater. 2024, 14, 2303935.
Crossref Google Scholar
[28]

Lu, X. Y.; Xu, H.; Yang, P. X.; Xiao, L. H.; Li, Y. Q.; Ma, J. Y.; Li, R. P.; Liu, L. L.; Liu, A. M.; Kondratiev, V. et al. Zinc-assisted MgO template synthesis of porous carbon-supported Fe-N x sites for efficient oxygen reduction reaction catalysis in Zn-air batteries. Appl. Catal. B Environ. 2022, 313, 121454.
Crossref Google Scholar
[29]

Zhang, P.; Chen, H. C.; Zhu, H. Y.; Chen, K.; Li, T. Y.; Zhao, Y. L.; Li, J. Y.; Hu, R. B.; Huang, S. Y.; Zhu, W. et al. Inter-site structural heterogeneity induction of single atom Fe catalysts for robust oxygen reduction. Nat. Commun. 2024, 15, 2062.
Crossref Google Scholar
[30]

Jiang, Z.; Liu, X. R.; Liu, X. Z.; Huang, S.; Liu, Y.; Yao, Z. C.; Zhang, Y.; Zhang, Q. H.; Gu, L.; Zheng, L. R. et al. Interfacial assembly of binary atomic metal-N x sites for high-performance energy devices. Nat. Commun. 2023, 14, 1822.
Crossref Google Scholar
[31]

Adabi, H.; Shakouri, A.; Ul Hassan, N.; Varcoe, J. R.; Zulevi, B.; Serov, A.; Regalbuto, J. R.; Mustain, W. E. High-performing commercial Fe-N-C cathode electrocatalyst for anion-exchange membrane fuel cells. Nat. Energy 2021, 6, 834–843.
Crossref Google Scholar
[32]

Zhu, Z. J.; Yin, H. J.; Wang, Y.; Chuang, C. H.; Xing, L.; Dong, M. Y.; Lu, Y. R.; Casillas-Garcia, G.; Zheng, Y. L.; Chen, S. et al. Coexisting single-atomic Fe and Ni sites on hierarchically ordered porous carbon as a highly efficient ORR electrocatalyst. Adv. Mater. 2020, 32, 2004670.
Crossref Google Scholar
[33]

Hu, M.; Ju, Y.; Liang, K.; Suma, T.; Cui, J. W.; Caruso, F. Void engineering in metal-organic frameworks via synergistic etching and surface functionalization. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2016, 26, 5827–5834.
Crossref Google Scholar
[34]

Han, X.; Zhang, T. Y.; Wang, X. H.; Zhang, Z. D.; Li, Y. P.; Qin, Y. J.; Wang, B. Q.; Han, A. J.; Liu, J. F. Hollow mesoporous atomically dispersed metal-nitrogen-carbon catalysts with enhanced diffusion for catalysis involving larger molecules. Nat. Commun. 2022, 13, 2900.
Crossref Google Scholar
[35]

Ejima, H.; Richardson, J. J.; Liang, K.; Best, J. P.; Van Koeverden, M. P.; Such, G. K.; Cui, J. W.; Caruso, F. One-step assembly of coordination complexes for versatile film and particle engineering. Science 2013, 341, 154–157.
Crossref Google Scholar
[36]

Li, J. C.; Xiao, F.; Zhong, H.; Li, T.; Xu, M. J.; Ma, L.; Cheng, M.; Liu, D.; Feng, S.; Shi, Q. R. et al. Secondary-atom-assisted synthesis of single iron atoms anchored on N-doped carbon nanowires for oxygen reduction reaction. ACS Catal. 2019, 9, 5929–5934.
Crossref Google Scholar
[37]

Rahman, M. M.; Muttakin, M.; Pal, A.; Shafiullah, A. Z.; Saha, B. B. A statistical approach to determine optimal models for IUPAC-classified adsorption isotherms. Energies 2019, 12, 4565.
Crossref Google Scholar
[38]

Tang, H. T.; Zhou, H. Y.; Pan, Y. M.; Zhang, J. L.; Cui, F. H.; Li, W. H.; Wang, D. S. Single-atom manganese-catalyzed oxygen evolution drives the electrochemical oxidation of silane to silanol. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2024, 63, e202315032.
Crossref Google Scholar
[39]

Zhong, G. Y.; Xu, S. R.; Liu, L.; Zheng, C. Z.; Dou, J. J.; Wang, F. Y.; Fu, X. B.; Liao, W. B.; Wang, H. J. Effect of experimental operations on the limiting current density of oxygen reduction reaction evaluated by rotating-disk electrode. ChemElectroChem 2020, 7, 1107–1114.
Crossref Google Scholar
[40]

Ku, Y. P.; Ehelebe, K.; Hutzler, A.; Bierling, M.; Böhm, T.; Zitolo, A.; Vorokhta, M.; Bibent, N.; Speck, F. D.; Seeberger, D. et al. Oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline media causes iron leaching from Fe-N-C electrocatalysts. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 9753–9763.
Crossref Google Scholar
[41]

Zhang, T. Y.; Wang, F. P.; Yang, C.; Han, X.; Liang, C.; Zhang, Z. D.; Li, Y. P.; Han, A. J.; Liu, J. F.; Liu, B. Boosting ORR performance by single atomic divacancy Zn-N3C-C8 sites on ultrathin N-doped carbon nanosheets. Chem Catal. 2022, 2, 836–852.
Crossref Google Scholar
[42]

Chen, G. B.; Liu, P.; Liao, Z. Q.; Sun, F. F.; He, Y. H.; Zhong, H. X.; Zhang, T.; Zschech, E.; Chen, M. W.; Wu, G. et al. Zinc-mediated template synthesis of Fe-N-C electrocatalysts with densely accessible Fe-N x active sites for efficient oxygen reduction. Adv. Mater. 2020, 32, 1907399.
Crossref Google Scholar
Nano Research
Volume 17 Issue 9,
September 2024
Pages 7918-7925
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-024-6766-3
Cite this article:
Liang C, Zhang T, Sun S, et al. Yolk–shell FeCu/NC electrocatalyst boosting high-performance zinc-air battery. Nano Research, 2024, 17(9): 7918-7925. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-024-6766-3
Topics:
Oxygen reduction reaction

405

Views

0

Crossref

0

Web of Science

0

Scopus

0

CSCD

Altmetrics
Received: 28 April 2024
Revised: 11 May 2024
Accepted: 14 May 2024
Published: 01 July 2024
© Tsinghua University Press 2024
Return