In Situ Coupling of Strung Co4N and Intertwined N–C Fibers toward Free-Standing Bifunctional Cathode for Robust, Efficient, and Flexible Zn–Air Batteries
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- 8 August 2016
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Vol. 138 (32), 10226-10231
- https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6b05046
Abstract
Flexible power sources with high energy density are crucial for the realization of next-generation flexible electronics. Theoretically, rechargeable flexible zinc-air (Zn-air) batteries could provide high specific energy, while their large scale applications are still greatly hindered by high cost and resources scarcity of noble-metal-based oxygen evolution reaction (OER)/oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts as well as inferior mechanical properties of the air cathode. Combining metallic Co4N with superior OER activity and Co-N-C with perfect ORR activity on a free-standing and flexible electrode could be a good step for flexible Zn-air batteries, while lots of difficulties need to overcome. Herein, as a proof-of-concept experiment, we first propose a strategy for in situ coupling of strung Co4N and intertwined N-C fibers, by pyrolyzation of the novel pearl-like ZIF-67/polypyrrole nanofibers network rooted on carbon cloth. Originating from the synergistic effect of Co4N and Co-N-C and the stable 3D interconnected conductive network structure, the obtained free-standing and highly flexible bifunctional oxygen electrode exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity and stability for both OER and ORR in terms of low overpotential (310 mV at 10 mA cm-2) for OER, a positive half-wave potential (0.8 V) for ORR, and a stable current density retention for at least 20 h, and especially, the obtained Zn-air batteries exhibit a low discharge-charge voltage gap (1.09 V at 50 mA cm-2) and long cycle life (up to 408 cycles). Furthermore, the perfect bendable and twistable, and rechargeable properties of the flexible Zn-air battery particularly make it potentially power portable and wearable electronic devices.Keywords
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