A bi-functional air electrode developed from a dual-MOF strategy for high-performance zinc-air batteries

Authors

Yasir Arafat, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Muhammad Rizwan Azhar, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Yijun Zhong
Xiaomin Xu
Moses O. Tadé
Zongping Shao

Author Identifier

Muhammad Rizwan Azhar

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5938-282X

Yasir Arafat

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4365-6379

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

EES Catalysis

Volume

2

First Page

968

Last Page

979

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry

School

School of Engineering

Funders

Australian Research Council Discovery Projects

Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship\u201D at Curtin University, Perth, Australia

Grant Number

ARC Numbers : DP200103315, DP200103332, DP220103669, DP230100685, LP220200920

Grant Link

https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/Web/Grant/Grant/DP200103315

https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/Web/Grant/Grant/DP200103332

https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/Web/Grant/Grant/DP220103669

https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/Web/Grant/Grant/DP230100685

https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/Web/Grant/Grant/LP220200920

Comments

Arafat, Y., Azhar, M. R., Zhong, Y., Xu, X., Tadé, M. O., & Shao, Z. (2024). A bi-functional air electrode developed from a dual-MOF strategy for high-performance zinc–air batteries. EES Catalysis, 2, 968-979. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4ey00008k

Abstract

A durable, high-performing and cost-effective bi-functional catalyst toward oxygen reduction/evolution reactions (ORR/OER) is the key towards the practical application of Zn-air batteries (ZABs). Here, we report a new concept of combining pristine and carbonized MOFs for developing a bifunctional electrocatalyst for ZABs, where the pristine MOF acts as a support for the OER catalysts and the carbonized MOF acts as the ORR catalyst and enhances the electronic conductivity. By electroless NiP-plating over the surface of the Fe-containing 3D MOF (MIL-100), the catalyst shows superior activity for the OER, delivering a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² at an overpotential of 295 mV together with a low Tafel slope of 62 mV dec⁻¹. A 3D porous MOF serves as a substrate for growing NiP with maximal exposed active sites and the iron in the MOF interacts with NiP to further boost the intrinsic OER activity. Subsequently, we introduce carbonized ZIF-67 (C-ZIF-67) into NiP-MIL-100 to build a bifunctional catalyst, where C-ZIF-67 not only provides ORR catalytic activity but also creates a synergetic effect with NiP-MIL-100, and to expedite the charge/mass transfer. Using this air electrode for ZABs, an excellent bifunctionality with a small potential gap (0.78 V), a high peak power density (203 mW cm⁻²) and robust cycling over a period of 500 h were achieved.

DOI

10.1039/d4ey00008k

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.