Fullerene-metalloporphyrin co-crystal as efficient oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalyst precursor for Zn-air batteries
Ao Yu,
Qi Huang,
Shixin Gao,
Tingting Xu,
Wei Zhang,
Nimanyu Joshi,
Ping Peng,
Yang Yang,
Fang-Fang Li
Affiliations
Ao Yu
State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Qi Huang
State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Shixin Gao
State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Tingting Xu
State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Wei Zhang
NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32826, USA
Nimanyu Joshi
NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32826, USA
State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Fullerene-derived carbon materials are promising catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) because of the presence of intrinsic defects in the carbon cage. Moreover, the nitrogen (N) species and metallic catalytic sites can effectively overcome the sluggish kinetics of O2 activation. In this work, a rod-shaped tetraphenyl-porphyrin cobalt-C60 cocrystal (CoTPP/C60) was self-assembled and then annealed to prepare a series of N, Co-codoped carbon materials. Among the resulting CoTPP/C60-X materials, CoTPP/C60-800, which was obtained at 800 °C, demonstrated a half-wave potential of 0.824 VRHE, outstanding stability, and remarkable methanol tolerance. The superior ORR performance of CoTPP/C60-800 can be attributed to the presence of abundant defects, appropriate N species (pyridine N and graphitic N), Co–Nx sites, and Co nanoparticles. Moreover, a Zn-air battery assembled using CoTPP/C60-800 as the cathode exhibited a high power density of 111.7 mW∙cm−2. This study provides a new strategy for designing and synthesizing advanced ORR catalysts for Zn-air batteries.
