Metal-Free Bifunctional Ordered Mesoporous Carbon for Reversible Zn-CO2 Batteries

Sanshuang Gao; Yifan Liu; Zhongyuan Xie; Yuan Qiu; Longchao Zhuo; Yongji Qin; Junqiang Ren; Shusheng Zhang; Guangzhi Hu; Jun Luo; Xijun Liu

doi:10.1002/smtd.202001039

Metal-Free Bifunctional Ordered Mesoporous Carbon for Reversible Zn-CO₂ Batteries

Small Methods. 2021 Apr;5(4):e2001039. doi: 10.1002/smtd.202001039. Epub 2021 Jan 18.

Authors

Sanshuang Gao¹, Yifan Liu², Zhongyuan Xie¹, Yuan Qiu¹, Longchao Zhuo³, Yongji Qin¹, Junqiang Ren⁴, Shusheng Zhang⁵, Guangzhi Hu⁶, Jun Luo¹, Xijun Liu^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Institute for New Energy Materials and Low-Carbon Technologies, Tianjin Key Lab of Photoelectric Materials and Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China.
² Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, 710048, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing and Recycling of Nonferrous Metals, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, 730050, China.
⁵ College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450000, China.
⁶ Institute for Ecological Research and Pollution Control of Plateau Lakes, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650504, China.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Civil Aviation Thermal Hazards Prevention and Emergency Response, Civil Aviation University of China, Tianjin, 300300, China.

PMID: 34927841
DOI: 10.1002/smtd.202001039

Abstract

The fabrication of Zn-CO₂ batteries is a promising technique for CO₂ fixation and energy storage. Herein, nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbon (NOMC) is adopted as a bifunctional metal-free electrocatalyst for CO₂ reduction and oxygen evolution reaction in the near-neutral electrolyte. The ordered mesoporous structures and abundant N-dopings of NOMC facilitate the accessibility and utilization of the active sites, which endow NOMC with excellent electrocatalysis performance and outstanding stability. Especially, a nearly 100% CO Faradaic efficiency is achieved at an ultralow overpotential of 360 mV for CO₂ reduction. When constructed as an aqueous rechargeable Zn-CO₂ battery using NOMC as the cathode, it yields a high peak power density of 0.71 mW cm^-2 , a good cyclability of 300 cycles, and excellent energy efficiency of 52.8% at 1.0 mA cm^-2 .

Keywords: Zn-CO 2 batteries; bifunctional catalysts; carbon dioxide reduction; metal-free catalysts; nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbon.

Abstract

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