Three-dimensional Composite Catalysts for Al-O2 Batteries Composed of CoMn2O4 Nanoneedles Supported on Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanotubes/Graphene

Yisi Liu; Faqi Zhan; Biqiong Wang; Bo Xie; Qian Sun; Hao Jiang; Jie Li; Xueliang Sun

doi:10.1021/acsami.9b04861

Three-dimensional Composite Catalysts for Al-O₂ Batteries Composed of CoMn₂O₄ Nanoneedles Supported on Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanotubes/Graphene

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2019 Jun 19;11(24):21526-21535. doi: 10.1021/acsami.9b04861. Epub 2019 Jun 10.

Authors

Yisi Liu¹, Faqi Zhan², Biqiong Wang³, Bo Xie¹, Qian Sun³, Hao Jiang⁴, Jie Li⁵, Xueliang Sun³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Advanced Materials , Hubei Normal University , Huangshi 415000 , China.
² State Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing and Recycling of Non-Ferrous Metals , Lanzhou University of Technology , Lanzhou 730050 , China.
³ Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering , University of Western Ontario , London , Ontario N6A 5B9 , Canada.
⁴ College of Materials and Chemical Engineering , Hunan City University , Yiyang 413000 , China.
⁵ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering , Central South University , Changsha 410083 , China.

PMID: 31135132
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b04861

Abstract

Great efforts have been focused on studying high-efficiency and stable catalysts toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in metal-air batteries. In view of synergistic effects and improved properties, carbon nanotubes and three-dimensional graphene (CNTs-3D graphene) hybrid catalysts developed via a well-controlled route are urgently required. Herein, a CoMn₂O₄ (CMO) nanoneedle-supported nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes/3D graphene (NCNTs/3D graphene) composite was prepared by in situ chemical vapor deposition (CVD) along with hydrothermal methods over a Ni foam substrate. The cyclic voltammetry and linear sweep voltammograms results indicate that the CMO/NCNTs/3D graphene hybrid possesses remarkable electrocatalytic performance toward ORR in alkaline conditions compared with NCNTs/3D graphene, CMO/3D graphene, and 3D graphene catalysts, even outperforming the commercial 20 wt % Pt/C catalyst. Moreover, the Al-air coin cell employing CMO/NCNTs/3D graphene as cathode catalysts obtains an open circuit voltage of 1.55 V and a specific capacity of 312.8 mA h g^-1, which are superior to the Al-air coin cell with NCNTs/3D graphene as catalysts. This work supplies new insights to advanced electrocatalysts introducing NCNTs/3D graphene as a catalyst support to develop scalable transition-metal oxide/NCNTs/3D graphene hybrids with excellent catalytic activity toward ORR in Al-air systems.

Keywords: 3D graphene; aluminum−air coin cells; chemical vapor deposition; nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes; oxygen reduction reaction.