Hollow Schottky Heterostructures for Highly Efficient Bifunctional Oxygen Electrocatalysis in Zinc-Air Batteries

作者：Yanqing Fu, Yi Han, Jiang Zhong, Yunying Fan, Yu Han, Sen Wang, Qing Shi, Qiao Liu, Krunoslav Užarević, Andrzej Czulak, Weiyou Yang, Hongli Yang, Qiliang Wei · 发表于：ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1021/acssuschemeng.5c09889 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion、Advanced battery technologies research、CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts

With advantages such as high theoretical energy density and eco-friendly operation, rechargeable zinc-air batteries (RZABs) have gained considerable interest as viable systems for future sustainable energy storage. Nevertheless, achieving high efficiency and long-term stability in bifunctional electrocatalysts that can simultaneously drive the oxygen reduction and evolution reactions remains a significant obstacle. In this work, we report the rationally designed hollow FeCo/CoFe 2 O 4 heterostructure (H–FeCo/FeCoO) as a high-performance bifunctional electrocatalyst for RZABs, in which the interconnected hollow architectures and well-defined Schottky interfaces are built via a polystyrene sphere-assisted strategy. The obtained H–FeCo/FeCoO bifunctional catalysts exhibit high activities for both ORR and OER, with a narrow voltage gap (Δ E ) of 660 mV, outperforming that of the Pt/C + RuO 2 benchmark. The as-assembled RZAB delivers a remarkable power density of 310 mW cm –2, and demonstrates excellent operational stability exceeding 500 h. Based on the DFT calculations, the rate-determining steps in ORR/OER processes and valence electron distributions in H–FeCo/FeCoO have been demonstrated, unveiling the origins of boosted catalytic activity and accelerated oxygen delivery. Current work presents a compelling design strategy for exploring advanced bifunctional catalysts with improved mass transport and electrochemical activity/durability for next-generation energy storage devices...