g-C3N4 promoted MOF-derived Fe single atoms anchored on N-doped hierarchically porous carbon for high-performance Zn-air batteries

Chao Chen; Shilong Zhou; Jiawei Xia; Le Li; Xingyue Qian; Fengxiang Yin; Guangyu He; Haiqun Chen

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.09.094

g-C₃N₄ promoted MOF-derived Fe single atoms anchored on N-doped hierarchically porous carbon for high-performance Zn-air batteries

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 Jan;653(Pt A):551-560. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.09.094. Epub 2023 Sep 16.

Authors

Chao Chen¹, Shilong Zhou², Jiawei Xia¹, Le Li¹, Xingyue Qian¹, Fengxiang Yin¹, Guangyu He³, Haiqun Chen⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Advanced Catalytic Materials and Technology, Advanced Catalysis and Green Manufacturing Collaborative Innovation Center, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China.
² Key Laboratory of Advanced Catalytic Materials and Technology, Advanced Catalysis and Green Manufacturing Collaborative Innovation Center, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China; Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Technology, Changzhou 213001, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Advanced Catalytic Materials and Technology, Advanced Catalysis and Green Manufacturing Collaborative Innovation Center, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China. Electronic address: hegy@cczu.edu.cn.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Advanced Catalytic Materials and Technology, Advanced Catalysis and Green Manufacturing Collaborative Innovation Center, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China. Electronic address: chenhq@cczu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37729762
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.09.094

Abstract

Exploring efficient, easy-to-manufacture, and inexpensive bifunctional electrocatalysts with abundant accessible active sites is crucial for rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZABs). Herein, we report the strategy consisting of the space confinement and pore-making engineering to fabricate single-atom catalyst enriched with Fe-N₄ sites anchored on N-doped hierarchically porous carbon (Fe-NC-C₃N₄). The optimized Fe-NC-C₃N₄ exhibits excellent oxygen reduction/evolution reaction (ORR/OER) activities with a half-wave potential (E_1/2) of 0.90 V vs. RHE and a promising low overpotential of 0.305 V vs. RHE at 10 mA·cm^-2 in alkaline electrolyte. These superior catalytic activities are attributed to the combined effect between the atomic active sites and the well-balanced micro-meso-macropore structures. The homemade liquid Zn-air battery (ZAB) assembled with Fe-NC-C₃N₄ catalyst displays a power density of 133.59 mW·cm^-2 and a significant energy density of 882.58 mAh·g^-1, exceeding those of the equipment with commercial Pt/C-RuO₂ (56.82 mW·cm^-2 and 643.87 mAh·g^-1, respectively). Particularly, the corresponding flexible wearable ZAB manifests outstanding foldability and cyclical stability. This work opens a new perspective for the structural design of single-atom catalysts in the energy storage and conversion area.

Keywords: ORR; Pore-making engineering; Single-atom catalyst; Zn-air battery; g-C(3)N(4).