Issue 44, 2022

Synergistic co-doping induced high catalytic activities of La/Fe doped Co3O4 towards oxygen reduction/evolution reactions for Zn–air batteries

Abstract

La/Fe co-doped Co3O4 nanoparticles supported on aminated carbon nanotubes (LaFe–Co3O4/NCNTs) have been demonstrated to be active bifunctional catalysts for oxygen reduction/revolution reactions (ORR/OER). With optimal La/Fe doping levels, LaFe–Co3O4/NCNTs exhibits an overall ORR/OER bifunctional catalytic activity higher than most catalysts reported recently. The high performance of LaFe–Co3O4/NCNTs mainly originates from the specific La/Fe co-doped structure of the LaFe–Co3O4 NPs, which increases both the ORR and OER catalytic activities of the LaFe–Co3O4 NPs to higher degrees. DFT calculations have shown that the La/Fe co-doping can decrease the overpotentials of both the ORR and the OER and increase the stability of the LaFe–Co3O4 NPs. Additionally, carbon coating can further increase the catalytic activities of LaFe–Co3O4/NCNTs by the decrease of the polarization losses caused by the electrical resistance. When used in zinc–air batteries (ZABs), the carbon coated LaFe–Co3O4/NCNTs (C@LaFe–Co3O4/NCNTs) can exhibit a maximum power density of 122.2 mW cm−2, which is >20% higher than that of mixed catalysts of Pt/C + RuO2. This, along with the much higher cycling stability of C@LaFe–Co3O4/NCNTs, suggests great potential for its use as a bifunctional catalyst for practical applications.

Graphical abstract: Synergistic co-doping induced high catalytic activities of La/Fe doped Co3O4 towards oxygen reduction/evolution reactions for Zn–air batteries

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
24 Aug. 2022
Accepted
20 Sept. 2022
First published
20 Sept. 2022

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022,10, 23483-23493

Synergistic co-doping induced high catalytic activities of La/Fe doped Co3O4 towards oxygen reduction/evolution reactions for Zn–air batteries

Z. Xia, B. Deng, Y. Wang, Z. Jiang and Z. Jiang, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022, 10, 23483 DOI: 10.1039/D2TA06726A

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