Fe-Co-Ni ternary single-atom electrocatalyst and stable quasi-solid-electrolyte enabling high-efficiency zinc-air batteries

作者：Shifeng Qin, Kaiqi Li, Mengxue Cao, Wuhua Liu, Zhongyuan Huang, Guanjie He, Ivan P. Parkin, Huanxin Li · 发表于：Nano Research Energy · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.26599/nre.2024.9120122 · 被引用次数：46 · 研究领域：Advanced battery technologies research、Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion、Fuel Cells and Related Materials

The non-noble metal (Fe, Co, Ni, etc.) catalysts possess promising potential to replace noble metals (e.g., Pt, Ru, Ir, etc.) as catalysts for oxygen electrocatalysis. Up to now, various mono- and dual-single-atom catalysts have been fabricated, though it is still challenging to synthesise ternary single-atom catalysts due to the difference of interaction forces between different metal ions (Fe, Co, Ni, etc.) and ligands. Here, we report a Fe-Co-Ni ternary single-atom catalyst (FeCoNi-N x ) derived from a zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF) precursor as an efficient oxygen electrocatalyst, and an optimised flexible casting-drying polyvinyl alcohol (CD-PVA) film as a quasi-solid electrolyte host, for high-efficiency solid-state Znair batteries. The aberration-corrected HAADF-STEM and EELS spectrum confirm the co-existence of Fe, Co and Ni single atoms in the FeCoNi-N x catalyst, and the electrochemical, mechanical, and durability tests prove the superiority of the CD-PVA film. As a result, the FeCoNi-N x -based rechargeable Zn-air battery delivers superior specific capacity (846.8 mAh·g Zn –1 ) and power density (135 mW·cm –2 ) in aqueous electrolyte, as well as an over 60 mW·cm –2 power density in quasi-solid electrolyte. As a result, the quasi-solid-state Zn-air battery with a small area of only 2 cm 2 is able to charge a mobile phone, which outperforms all the reported devices to date.