Micropores regulating enables advanced carbon sphere catalyst for Zn-air batteries

Jingsha Li; Shijie Yi; Ranjusha Rajagopalan; Zejie Zhang; Yougen Tang; Haiyan Wang

Green Energy & Environment (Feb 2023)

Micropores regulating enables advanced carbon sphere catalyst for Zn-air batteries

Jingsha Li,
Shijie Yi,
Ranjusha Rajagopalan,
Zejie Zhang,
Yougen Tang,
Haiyan Wang

Affiliations

Jingsha Li: Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Power Sources, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Manganese Resources, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China; Institute of Materials Science and Devices, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215011, China
Shijie Yi: Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Power Sources, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Manganese Resources, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China
Ranjusha Rajagopalan: Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Power Sources, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Manganese Resources, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China
Zejie Zhang: Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Power Sources, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Manganese Resources, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China
Yougen Tang: Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Power Sources, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Manganese Resources, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China; Corresponding authors.
Haiyan Wang: Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Power Sources, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Manganese Resources, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China; Corresponding authors.

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 308 – 317

Abstract

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Energy conversion technologies like fuel cells and metal-air batteries require oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts with low cost and high catalytic activity. Herein, N-doped carbon spheres (N-CS) with rich micropore structure have been synthesized by a facile two-step method, which includes the polymerization of pyrrole and formaldehyde and followed by a facile pyrolysis process. During the preparation, zinc chloride (ZnCl2) was utilized as a catalyst to promote polymerization and provide a hypersaline environment. In addition, the morphology, defect content and activity area of the resultant N-CS catalysts could be regulated by controlling the content of ZnCl2. The optimum N-CS-1 catalyst demonstrated much better catalytic activity and durability towards ORR in alkaline conditions than commercial 20 wt% Pt/C catalysts, of which the half-wave potential reached 0.844 V vs. RHE. When applied in the Zn-air batteries as cathode catalysts, N-CS-1 showed a maximum power density of 175 mW cm−2 and long-term discharging stability of over 150 h at 10 mA cm−2, which outperformed 20 wt% Pt/C. The excellent performance could be due to its ultrahigh specific surface area of 1757 m2 g−1 and rich micropore channels structure. Meanwhile, this work provides an efficient method to synthesize an ultrahigh surface porous carbon material, especially for catalyst application.

Published in Green Energy & Environment

ISSN: 2468-0257 (Online)
Publisher: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
Country of publisher: China
LCC subjects: Technology: Mechanical engineering and machinery: Renewable energy sources; Science: Biology (General): Ecology
Website: https://www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/green-energy-and-environment/

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