MOF-derived CoFe alloy nanoparticles encapsulated within N,O Co-doped multilayer graphitized shells as an efficient bifunctional catalyst for zinc--air batteries

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 1; no. 28; pp. 14866 - 14874
• Main Authors: Zhang, Jingjing, Tang, Fumin, Wan, Kechuang, Yang, Yange, Zhang, Cunman, Ming, Ping Wen, Li, Bing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 19.07.2022
• Subjects: Batteries; Bimetals; Catalysts; Cobalt; Durability; Electrocatalysts; Electrochemistry; Electrode materials; Electron transport; Encapsulation; Graphitization; Intermetallic compounds; Metal air batteries; Metal-organic frameworks; Multilayers; Nanoalloys; Nanoparticles; Recarburizing; Shells; Specific capacity; Zinc; Zinc-oxygen batteries
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/d2ta02957j

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and their derivatives are promising electrocatalysts for zinc-air batteries due to their advantages of reconfigurable metal nodes and abundant coordinatively unsaturated active sites. However, current MOF-derived composites are mostly microporous and have low graphitization, which are deemed unfavourable for ion and electron transport. Herein, we report CoFe alloy nanoparticles encapsulated in N,O co-doped multilayer graphitized shells as effective bifunctional catalysts as well as the simple and practical preparation of cobalt/iron MOFs and their subsequent carbonization. The resulting heteroatom-doped carbon highly graphitized bimetallic catalysts were examined by electrochemical tests and deliver a minimum Δ E (Δ E = E j10 − E 1/2 ) of 0.678 V and exhibits high durability after long-term testing. The homemade zinc-air battery has a high power density (>200 mW cm −2 ) with a high specific capacity (829.5 mA h g −1 ). In addition, the zinc-air battery exhibits high stability during battery cycling processes. Therefore, this work provides a promising pathway for advanced metal-air cathode materials. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and their derivatives are promising electrocatalysts for zinc-air batteries due to their advantages of reconfigurable metal nodes and abundant coordinatively unsaturated active sites.