Engineering atomically dispersed Mn and Fe sites on hollow nitrogen-doped carbon for high-performance Zn-air batteries

Qiyu Li; Lei Zhao; Zhaozhao Zhu; Pei Xiong; Jiayu Zuo; Jun Song Chen; Rong Li; Rui Wu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2024.11.208

Engineering atomically dispersed Mn and Fe sites on hollow nitrogen-doped carbon for high-performance Zn-air batteries

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2025 Mar 15:682:460-466. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.11.208. Epub 2024 Nov 29.

Authors

Qiyu Li¹, Lei Zhao², Zhaozhao Zhu², Pei Xiong², Jiayu Zuo², Jun Song Chen³, Rong Li⁴, Rui Wu⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637000, China; School of Materials and Energy, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China.
² School of Materials and Energy, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China.
³ School of Materials and Energy, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China; Interdisciplinary Materials Research Center, Institute for Advanced Study, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China.
⁴ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637000, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ School of Materials and Energy, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 39631317
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.11.208

Abstract

Zinc-air batteries (ZABs) have garnered significant interest due to their environmental friendliness, low cost, and high energy density. However, their practical application is significantly hindered by high overpotential and sluggish reaction kinetics. Here, we propose a hollow nitrogen-doped carbon supported atomically dispersed Fe and Mn sites (FeMn-HNC) through a facile NaCl-assisted pyrolysis strategy. The synthesized FeMn-HNC catalyst possesses a hollow porous structure, resulting in exceptional oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic activity, remarkable durable stability, and good tolerance to methanol. Furthermore, integrating this catalyst into ZABs demonstrates significant performance advantages, achieving a maximum power density of 223.1 mW cm^-2 and a high specific capacity of 804.3 mAh g^-1. This study offers a promising approach for boosting the power density and specific capacity of nitrogen-doped carbon catalysts in ZABs.

Keywords: Hollow nitrogen-doped carbon; Oxygen reduction reaction; Zn-air batteries.