FeOOH-carbon nanotube-FeCo/nitrogen-doped porous carbon as an excellent bifunctional catalyst for achieving high power performance in rechargeable zinc-air batteries

Rechargeable metal-air batteries (MABs) are one of the most promising next-generation alternatives for energy storage. One of the key challenges for the eventual viability of the MAB is the development of a high-performance bifunctional catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this study, a novel bifunctional electrocatalyst consisting of a FeOOH/carbon nanotube/ FeCo/nitrogen-doped porous carbon framework (FeOOH-CNT-FeCo/NC) derived from a zeolitic imidazo-late framework is reported. This reported electrocatalyst showed a good ORR/OER performance with a potential difference of 0.86 V compared to Pt/C and Ir/C (1.12 V and 1.05 V). When tested in a Zn-air bat-tery (ZAB) cell, the battery cell with the FeOOH-CNT-FeCo/NC electrocatalyst demonstrated a very high power density of 284 mW cm-2 at 365 mA cm-2 while exhibiting good cycling stability. Additionally, a very stable charge-discharge potential with a retention rate of 93.7% after 686 cycles (229 hrs) at 10 mA cm-2 was observed.(c) 2023 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.