Confined covalent organic framework anchored Fe sites derived highly uniform electrocatalysts for rechargeable aqueous and solid-state Zn-air batteries

Guangliang Zhou; Keyu Chen; Guangming Liang; Jilan Long

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.038

Confined covalent organic framework anchored Fe sites derived highly uniform electrocatalysts for rechargeable aqueous and solid-state Zn-air batteries

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Dec:651:794-804. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.038. Epub 2023 Aug 7.

Authors

Guangliang Zhou¹, Keyu Chen¹, Guangming Liang¹, Jilan Long²

Affiliations

¹ Chemical Synthesis and Pollution Control Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, China West Normal University, Nanchong, 637000, PR China.
² Chemical Synthesis and Pollution Control Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, China West Normal University, Nanchong, 637000, PR China. Electronic address: xlong612@126.com.

PMID: 37572615
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.038

Abstract

Exploiting clean, highly efficient energy storage and conversion device like Zn-air battery is of significance for alleviating the energy and environmental crises of this society. Metal organic coordination polymers/frameworks have been regarded as ideal templates to synthesize non-noble metal catalysts for a long time. However, the high density of metal nodes inevitably leads to the heavy aggregation of metal nanoparticles during thermolysis transformation process, which greatly hinders the maximizing of electrochemical performances. Herein, covalent organic framework (COF) has been employed to anchor the quantificational Fe ions (COF-Fe) and then confined into the macropores of g-C₃N₄ to improve the dispersion of metal active sites and avoid severe aggregation during high temperature pyrolysis. After calcination, the metal nanoparticles highly dispersed Fe-CFN catalysts can be obtained. The optimal Fe-CFN-800 catalysts exhibit excellent ORR and OER performances with the potential difference between ORR and OER of merely 0.723 V. Moreover, experimental way and DFT theoretical calculations are also employed to disclose the reaction mechanism. Finally, the all-solid-state and aqueous Zn-air batteries assembled with the optimized Fe-CFN-800 as cathode present excellent performances with high peak power density, flexible rate performance, strong discharge stability and long-term charge-discharge cycling performance.

Keywords: Aqueous Zn-air battery; Covalent organic frameworks; Fe-based composites; Oxygen evolution reaction; Oxygen reduction reaction; all-solid-state Zn-air battery; g-C(3)N(4).