(Invited) Graphene-Supported Fe/Ni Single Atoms and Feni Alloy Nanoparticles as Bifunctional Oxygen Electrocatalysts for Rechargeable Zinc-Air Batteries
Authors: Xu Zhiwen , Shao Minhua 
Published: August 2024

To alleviate the severe energy crisis and environmental problems caused by the massive and unsustainable consumption of fossil fuels, it is urgent to develop renewable energy conversion and energy storage technologies to reform the traditional energy structure. Batteries are considered as one of the most promising energy storage technologies due to their sustainability, high efficiency and less pollution. Among various battery storage devices, rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZABs) have attracted widespread attention on account of their high theoretical energy density (1086 Wh kg–
1), low cost, abundant zinc resources, low operating temperature, and good stability and safety in aqueous environments. However, the kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) occurred on the air electrode during the discharging and charging processes are extremely sluggish, leading to low energy efficiency, which significantly limits the large-scale application of rechargeable ZABs. Pt-based electrocatalysts exhibit high ORR activities, while Ru- and Ir-based oxides are excellent OER electrocatalysts, but natural scarcity, high cost and poor durability seriously reduce the marketability and commercial competitiveness of rechargeable ZABs. Therefore, the development of robust, cost-effective and high-efficiency non-noble metal bifunctional ORR/OER electrocatalysts is of crucial significance for the practical application of rechargeable ZABs.

As a promising alternative, earth-abundant transition metal (Fe, Co, Ni, etc.)-based materials have been extensively studied due to their relatively high electrocatalytic activity and durability. Thereinto, transition metal and nitrogen co-doped carbon (M-NC), especially Fe-NC, has been demonstrated to be the most effective ORR catalyst, and the active sites are generally considered as atomically dispersed metal coordinated to N atoms (M-Nx sites, x indicates the number of N atoms coordinating the metal). Nevertheless, M-NC catalysts only possess good ORR activity with poor OER performance. Bimetallic FeNi nanocomposites (metals, oxides, carbides, sulfides) are promising for OER. At high potentials, highly active FeNi oxyhydroxide species are generated on the surface of the FeNi-based electrocatalysts. Since ORR and OER depend on different catalytic active sites, an ideal bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts should integrate M-NC complex with high ORR activity and bimetallic FeNi nanocomposite with a high OER activity to achieve bifunctionality. However, due to the intense competition between transition-metal single atoms and nanocomposites in the preparation process, it is challenging to combine them properly for superior bifunctional ORR/OER catalytic activity.

Herein, we report a bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst consisting of ZIF-derived carbon-anchored Fe/Ni single atoms and FeNi alloy nanoparticles; meanwhile, graphene is also introduced as carbon support to improve the uniformity of active sites (denoted as Fe/Ni-NC||FeNi@G). Benefiting from this unique composition and structure, Fe/Ni-NC||FeNi@G electrocatalyst displays excellent bifunctional ORR/OER activity and durability in rechargeable ZABs. This work provides an effective approach to designing highly efficient non-noble metal multifunctional catalysts for practical applications in rechargeable metal-air batteries.

Acknowledgements

Thanks for the financial support from the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee (JCYJ20180507183818040).