Energy barrier engineering of oxygen reduction reaction synergistically promoted by binary Zn-Cu pair sites for advanced Zn–air batteries

Mancai Qian; Man Guo; Yuan Qu; Meijiao Xu; Datai Liu; Cheng Hou; Tayirjan T. Isimjan; Xiulin Yang

doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2022.164527

Energy barrier engineering of oxygen reduction reaction synergistically promoted by binary Zn-Cu pair sites for advanced Zn–air batteries

Mancai Qian, Man Guo, Yuan Qu, Meijiao Xu, Datai Liu, Cheng Hou, Tayirjan T. Isimjan, Xiulin Yang

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Reducing the oxygen adsorption energy barrier is vital to accelerate the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, we report a mesoporous cake-like structured Zn-N/Cu-N electrocatalyst (ZnCu-N-C) with robust electrocatalytic performance and exceptional durability in 0.1 M KOH solution. The mesoporous cake-like structure is promising to expose more active sites. Extended X-ray absorption fine spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the existence of M-Nx (M = Zn, Cu). More importantly, the density functional theory (DFT) calculations corroborate that the Zn-N/Cu-N dual active center can reduce the oxygen adsorption energy barrier. Therefore, the optimized ZnCu-N-C electrocatalyst is ahead of commercial Pt/C (20 wt%) in all aspects. Moreover, the ZnCu-N-C-based Zn–air batteries exhibit outstanding long-term stability of 240 cycles, a large power density of 156.2 mW cm−2, and a high specific capacity of 732.7 mA h g−1. This work may provide new guidance for the rational design of cathode catalysts in Zn-air batteries.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	164527
Journal	Journal of Alloys and Compounds
Volume	907
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2022.164527
State	Published - Mar 16 2022

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2022-04-21
Acknowledgements: Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no.21965005), Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Province (2018GXNSFAA294077, 2021GXNSFAA076001), Project of High-Level Talents of Guangxi (F-KA18015), and Guangxi Technology Base and Talent Subject (GUIKE AD18126001, GUIKE AD20297039)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Materials Chemistry
Mechanics of Materials
Metals and Alloys
Mechanical Engineering

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10.1016/j.jallcom.2022.164527

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title = "Energy barrier engineering of oxygen reduction reaction synergistically promoted by binary Zn-Cu pair sites for advanced Zn–air batteries",

abstract = "Reducing the oxygen adsorption energy barrier is vital to accelerate the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, we report a mesoporous cake-like structured Zn-N/Cu-N electrocatalyst (ZnCu-N-C) with robust electrocatalytic performance and exceptional durability in 0.1 M KOH solution. The mesoporous cake-like structure is promising to expose more active sites. Extended X-ray absorption fine spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the existence of M-Nx (M = Zn, Cu). More importantly, the density functional theory (DFT) calculations corroborate that the Zn-N/Cu-N dual active center can reduce the oxygen adsorption energy barrier. Therefore, the optimized ZnCu-N-C electrocatalyst is ahead of commercial Pt/C (20 wt%) in all aspects. Moreover, the ZnCu-N-C-based Zn–air batteries exhibit outstanding long-term stability of 240 cycles, a large power density of 156.2 mW cm−2, and a high specific capacity of 732.7 mA h g−1. This work may provide new guidance for the rational design of cathode catalysts in Zn-air batteries.",

author = "Mancai Qian and Man Guo and Yuan Qu and Meijiao Xu and Datai Liu and Cheng Hou and Isimjan, {Tayirjan T.} and Xiulin Yang",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2022-04-21 Acknowledgements: Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no.21965005), Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Province (2018GXNSFAA294077, 2021GXNSFAA076001), Project of High-Level Talents of Guangxi (F-KA18015), and Guangxi Technology Base and Talent Subject (GUIKE AD18126001, GUIKE AD20297039)",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jallcom.2022.164527",

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T1 - Energy barrier engineering of oxygen reduction reaction synergistically promoted by binary Zn-Cu pair sites for advanced Zn–air batteries

AU - Qian, Mancai

AU - Guo, Man

AU - Qu, Yuan

AU - Xu, Meijiao

AU - Liu, Datai

AU - Hou, Cheng

AU - Isimjan, Tayirjan T.

AU - Yang, Xiulin

N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2022-04-21 Acknowledgements: Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no.21965005), Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Province (2018GXNSFAA294077, 2021GXNSFAA076001), Project of High-Level Talents of Guangxi (F-KA18015), and Guangxi Technology Base and Talent Subject (GUIKE AD18126001, GUIKE AD20297039)

PY - 2022/3/16

Y1 - 2022/3/16

N2 - Reducing the oxygen adsorption energy barrier is vital to accelerate the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, we report a mesoporous cake-like structured Zn-N/Cu-N electrocatalyst (ZnCu-N-C) with robust electrocatalytic performance and exceptional durability in 0.1 M KOH solution. The mesoporous cake-like structure is promising to expose more active sites. Extended X-ray absorption fine spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the existence of M-Nx (M = Zn, Cu). More importantly, the density functional theory (DFT) calculations corroborate that the Zn-N/Cu-N dual active center can reduce the oxygen adsorption energy barrier. Therefore, the optimized ZnCu-N-C electrocatalyst is ahead of commercial Pt/C (20 wt%) in all aspects. Moreover, the ZnCu-N-C-based Zn–air batteries exhibit outstanding long-term stability of 240 cycles, a large power density of 156.2 mW cm−2, and a high specific capacity of 732.7 mA h g−1. This work may provide new guidance for the rational design of cathode catalysts in Zn-air batteries.

AB - Reducing the oxygen adsorption energy barrier is vital to accelerate the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, we report a mesoporous cake-like structured Zn-N/Cu-N electrocatalyst (ZnCu-N-C) with robust electrocatalytic performance and exceptional durability in 0.1 M KOH solution. The mesoporous cake-like structure is promising to expose more active sites. Extended X-ray absorption fine spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the existence of M-Nx (M = Zn, Cu). More importantly, the density functional theory (DFT) calculations corroborate that the Zn-N/Cu-N dual active center can reduce the oxygen adsorption energy barrier. Therefore, the optimized ZnCu-N-C electrocatalyst is ahead of commercial Pt/C (20 wt%) in all aspects. Moreover, the ZnCu-N-C-based Zn–air batteries exhibit outstanding long-term stability of 240 cycles, a large power density of 156.2 mW cm−2, and a high specific capacity of 732.7 mA h g−1. This work may provide new guidance for the rational design of cathode catalysts in Zn-air batteries.

UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/676346

UR - https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0925838822009185

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DO - 10.1016/j.jallcom.2022.164527

M3 - Article

SN - 0925-8388

VL - 907

SP - 164527

JO - Journal of Alloys and Compounds

JF - Journal of Alloys and Compounds

ER -

Energy barrier engineering of oxygen reduction reaction synergistically promoted by binary Zn-Cu pair sites for advanced Zn–air batteries

Abstract

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