N- & S-co-doped carbon nanofiber network embedded with ultrafine NiCo nanoalloy for efficient oxygen electrocatalysis and Zn–air batteries

Abstract

A novel 3D N- & S-co-doped carbon nanofiber network embedded with ultrafine NiCo oxide nanoparticles is explored by a facile surfactant-assisted electrospinning method. This catalyst has several structural advantages including ultrafine active sites (2–8 nm), hierarchical pores, and abundant defects, allowing for much higher OER/ORR activity compared to commercial IrO₂ and Pt/C catalysts. The potential gap (ΔE) of OER and ORR metrics for NSCFs/Ni-Co-NiCo₂O is 0.69 V and the Zn–air battery equipped with NSCFs/Ni-Co-NiCo₂O as the air cathode delivers a maximum power density of 171.24 mW cm⁻² at 268 mA cm⁻². Furthermore, the unique structure of the 3D carbon nanofiber network embedded with ultrafine nanoparticles results in superior stability with negligible degradation in activity after 380 h of continuous operation.