ZIF-8-derived Fe/P/N-co-doped carbon as efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction and zinc–air batteries†
Abstract
Fe–N–C electrocatalysts doped with heteroatoms are considered to be one of the most promising candidates to replace Pt-based materials and, hence, overcome the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for many energy conversion devices. Herein, a very facile strategy to prepare a Fe–P/N–C hybrid through pyrolyzing Fe/P-co-doped zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) was rationally designed. Characterizations exhibited that the Fe/P atoms were uniformly embedded in the N-doped carbon framework. Compared with the undoped precursor, the doped product showed considerably improved ORR performance with a more positive half-wave potential (E1/2 = 0.88 V) in alkaline media. When assembled as a cathode catalyst in a zinc–air battery, the product delivered a peak power density of 157.5 mW cm−2. This work provides a facile and novel design strategy for obtaining highly active ORR catalysts for Zn–air batteries.