External Field-Responsive Ternary Non-Noble Metal Oxygen Electrocatalyst for Rechargeable Zinc-Air Batteries.

Gu, Fan; Guo, Wengai; Yuan, Yifei; Deng, Ya-Ping; Jin, Huile; Wang, Jichang; Chen, Zhongwei; Pan, Shuang et al. · Adv Mater · 2024

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Despite the increasing effort in advancing oxygen electrocatalysts for zinc-air batteries (ZABs), the performance development gradually reaches a plateau via only ameliorating the electrocatalyst materials. Herein, a new class of external field-responsive electrocatalyst comprising Ni<sub>0.5</sub>Mn<sub>0.5</sub>Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> stably dispersed on N-doped Ketjenblack (Ni<sub>0.5</sub>Mn<sub>0.5</sub>Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub>/N-KB) is developed via polymer-assisted strategy for practical ZABs. Briefly, the activity indicator ΔE is significantly decreased to 0.618 V upon photothermal assistance, far exceeding most reported electrocatalysts (generally >0.680 V). As a result, the photothermal electrocatalyst possesses comprehensive merits of excellent power density (319 mW cm<sup>-2</sup>), ultralong lifespan (5163 cycles at 25 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>), and outstanding rate performance (100 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>) for liquid ZABs, and superb temperature and deformation adaptability for flexible ZABs. Such improvement is attributed to the photothermal-heating-enabled synergy of promoted electrical conductivity, reactant-molecule motion, active area, and surface reconstruction, as revealed by operando Raman and simulation. The findings open vast possibilities toward more-energy-efficient energy applications.