Affiliation:
1. Key laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Advanced Catalysis Materials College of Chemistry and Materials Science College of Geography and Environmental Sciences Zhejiang Normal University Jinhua 321004 P. R. China
2. Zhejiang Engineering Laboratory for Green Syntheses and Applications of Fluorine‐Containing Specialty Chemicals Institute of Advanced Fluorine‐Containing Materials Zhejiang Normal University Jinhua 321004 P. R. China
Abstract
AbstractTo meet increasing requirement for innovative energy storage and conversion technology, it is urgent to prepare effective, affordable, and long‐term stable oxygen electrocatalysts to replace precious metal‐based counterparts. Herein, a two‐step pyrolysis strategy is developed for controlled synthesis of Fe2O3 and Mn3O4 anchored on carbon nanotubes/nanosheets (Fe2O3‐Mn3O4‐CNTs/NSs). The typical catalyst has a high half‐wave potential (E1/2 = 0.87 V) for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), accompanied with a smaller overpotential (η10 = 290 mV) for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), showing substantial improvement in the ORR and OER performances. As well, density functional theory calculations are performed to illustrate the catalytic mechanism, where the in situ generated Fe2O3 directly correlates to the reduced energy barrier, rather than Mn3O4. The Fe2O3‐Mn3O4‐CNTs/NSs‐based Zn–air battery exhibits a high‐power density (153 mW cm−2) and satisfyingly long durability (1650 charge/discharge cycles/550 h). This work provides a new reference for preparation of highly reversible oxygen conversion catalysts.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China