Hydrophobization Engineering of the Air-Cathode Catalyst for Improved Oxygen Diffusion towards Efficient Zinc-Air Batteries

Kun Tang; Haibo Hu; Ying Xiong; Lin Chen; Jinyang Zhang; Changzhou Yuan; Mingzai Wu

doi:10.1002/anie.202202671

Hydrophobization Engineering of the Air-Cathode Catalyst for Improved Oxygen Diffusion towards Efficient Zinc-Air Batteries

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2022 Jun 13;61(24):e202202671. doi: 10.1002/anie.202202671. Epub 2022 Apr 19.

Authors

Kun Tang¹, Haibo Hu¹, Ying Xiong², Lin Chen², Jinyang Zhang³, Changzhou Yuan³, Mingzai Wu⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Conversion Energy Materials and Devices of Anhui University, Anhui University, Hefei, 230601, P. R. China.
² School of Materials Science & Engineering, Southwest University of Science & Technology, Mianyang, 621010, P. R. China.
³ School of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Jinan, Jinan, Shandong, 250022, P. R. China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Structure and Functional Regulation of Hybrid Materials, Ministry of Education, Institute of Energy, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Anhui University, Hefei, 230601, P. R. China.

PMID: 35357773
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202202671

Abstract

Poor oxygen diffusion at multiphase interfaces in an air cathode suppresses the energy densities of zinc-air batteries (ZABs). Developing effective strategies to tackle the issue is of great significance for overcoming the performance bottleneck. Herein, inspired by the bionics of diving flies, a polytetrafluoroethylene layer was coated on the surfaces of Co₃ O₄ nanosheets (NSs) grown on carbon cloth (CC) to create a hydrophobic surface to enable the formation of more three-phase reaction interfaces and promoted oxygen diffusion, rendering the hydrophobic-Co₃ O₄ NSs/CC electrode a higher limiting current density (214 mA cm^-2 at 0.3 V) than that (10 mA cm^-2 ) of untreated-Co₃ O₄ NSs/CC electrode. Consequently, the assembled ZAB employing hydrophobic-Co₃ O₄ NSs/CC cathode acquired a higher power density (171 mW cm^-2 ) than that (102 mW cm^-2 ) utilizing untreated-Co₃ O₄ NSs/CC cathode, proving the enhanced interfacial reaction kinetics on air cathode benefiting from the hydrophobization engineering.

Keywords: Co3O4 Nanosheets; High Power Density; Hydrophobic Surface; Mass Transfer; Zn-Air Batteries.

Grants and funding

U2003132, 51871001, 52171211/National Natural Science Foundation of China