NiCo alloy‐anchored self‐supporting carbon foam as a bifunctional oxygen electrode for rechargeable and flexible Zn–air batteries

Abstract

The design and fabrication of flexible, porous, conductive electrodes with customizable functions become the prime challenge in the development of new-generation wearable electronics, especially for rechargeable batteries. Here, the NiCo bialloy particulate catalyst-loaded self-supporting carbon foam framework (NiCo@SCF) as a flexible electrode has been fabricated through one facile adsorption-pyrolysis method using a commercial melamine foam.Compared with the electrode with Pt/C and Ir/C benchmark catalysts, the NiCo@SCF electrode exhibited superior bifunctional electrocatalytic performance in alkaline media with a half-wave potential of 0.906 V for oxygen reduction reaction, an overpotential of 286 mV at j = 10 mA cm −2 for oxygen evolution reaction, and stable bifunctional performance with a small degradation after 20,000 voltammetric cycles. The as-assembled aqueous zinc-air battery (ZAB) with NiCo@SCF as a self-supporting air cathode demonstrated a high peak power density of 178.6 mW cm −2 at a current density of 10 mA cm −2 and a stable voltage gap of 0.94 V over a 540 h charge−discharge operation. Remarkably, the as-assembled flexible solid-state ZAB with self-supporting NiCo@SCF as the air cathode presented an engaging peak power density of 80.1 mW cm −2 and excellent durability of 95 h undisrupted operation, showing promise for the design of wearable ZAB.The demonstrated electrode fabrication approach exemplifies a facile, largescale avenue toward functional electrodes, potentially extendable to other wearable electronics for broader applications.

A-Site Engineering of the High-Entropy Perovskite Pr0.4La0.4Ba0.4Sr0.4Ca0.4Fe2O5+δ Cathode for Intermediate-Temperature SOFCs

“…The reduction in R p in PLBSCF is attributed to its elevated oxygen vacancy concentration and superior conductivity. These factors collectively accelerate the electrochemical reaction process, ,, as supported by the analysis of XPS, TG, and electrical conductivity. In Figure b, the activation energies for PBF and PLBSCF are 40.55 and 45.13 kJ·mol –1 , respectively, both of which are lower than that of PBSCF (57.16 kJ·mol –1 ).…”

General synthesis of carbon-guarded cobalt-based nanospheres for oxygen reduction electrocatalysis

“…Metal–air batteries (MABs) are widely used in various electronic devices because of their high energy density, low cost, and environmental friendliness. 1–3 However, the lack of economically viable catalysts that can enhance the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has been a major obstacle to the widespread adoption of these batteries. 4 Considering the high cost of platinum (Pt)-based catalysts, lots of non-precious transition metal nanocatalysts have been explored to maximize atomic utilization and catalytic activity.…”

A superior zinc-air battery performance achieved by CoO/Fe3O4 heterostructured nanosheets

“…A stable OCV was recorded for the all-solid-state ZAB, with bending at different angles underlining its potential application in wearable devices. 32 The free energies for various oxygen intermediates were calculated, as shown in Fig. S25 (ESI†).…”