ZIF-67-derived N-doped double layer carbon cage as efficient catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract

Abstract The slow kinetic of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) hampers the practical application of energy conversion devices, such as fuel cells, metal-air batteries. Here, an efficient ORR electrocatalyst consists of Co, Ni co-decorated nitrogen-doped double shell hollow carbon cage (Ni–Co@NHC) was fabricated by pyrolyzing Ni-doped polydopamine wrapped ZIF-67. During the preparation, polydopamine served as a protective layer can effectively prevent the aggregation of Co and Ni nanoparticles during the pyrolysis process, and at the same time forming a carbon layer to grow a double layer carbon cage. This unique hollow structure endows the catalyst with a high specific surface area as well as more exposed active sites. Also benefited from the synergistic effect between Ni and Co nanoparticles, the Ni–Co@NHC catalyst leads to an outstanding ORR performance of half-wave potential (E 1/2, 0.862 V), outperforms that of commercial Pt/C catalyst. Additionally, when Ni–Co@NHC was used in the cathode for the zinc-air battery, the cell exhibits high power density (108 mW cm−2) and high specific capacity (806 mAh g−1) at 20 mA cm−2 outperforming Pt/C. This work offers a promising design strategy for the development of high-performance ORR electrocatalysts.