Zinc-Mediated Template Synthesis of Hierarchical Porous N-Doped Carbon Electrocatalysts for Efficient Oxygen Reduction
Qianhui Ma,
Guifa Long,
Xulei Tang,
Xiaobao Li,
Xianghui Wang,
Chenghang You,
Wenjun Fan,
Qingqing Wang
Affiliations
Qianhui Ma
Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Treatment and Resource Reuse of Hainan Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Guifa Long
Guangxi Key Laboratory of Chemistry and Engineering of Forest Products, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi Minzu University, Nanning 530008, China
Xulei Tang
Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Treatment and Resource Reuse of Hainan Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Xiaobao Li
Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Treatment and Resource Reuse of Hainan Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Xianghui Wang
Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Treatment and Resource Reuse of Hainan Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Chenghang You
Hainan Provincial Key Laboratory of Fine Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
Wenjun Fan
Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM), State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Qingqing Wang
Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Treatment and Resource Reuse of Hainan Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
The development of highly active and low-cost catalysts for use in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is crucial to many advanced and eco-friendly energy techniques. N-doped carbons are promising ORR catalysts. However, their performance is still limited. In this work, a zinc-mediated template synthesis strategy for the development of a highly active ORR catalyst with hierarchical porous structures was presented. The optimal catalyst exhibited high ORR performance in a 0.1 M KOH solution, with a half-wave potential of 0.89 V vs. RHE. Additionally, the catalyst exhibited excellent methanol tolerance and stability. After a 20,000 s continuous operation, no obvious performance decay was observed. When used as the air–electrode catalyst in a zinc–air battery (ZAB), it delivered an outstanding discharging performance, with peak power density and specific capacity as high as 196.3 mW cm−2 and 811.5 mAh gZn−1, respectively. Its high performance and stability endow it with potential in practical and commercial applications as a highly active ORR catalyst. Additionally, it is believed that the presented strategy can be applied to the rational design and fabrication of highly active and stable ORR catalysts for use in eco-friendly and future-oriented energy techniques.
