Although zinc–air batteries (ZABs) have been extensively studied due to their advantages, there is still room for improving flexible ZABs especially by identifying suitable self-standing flexible electrode materials. Here, flexible porous nanofibers embedded with Co nanoparticles and nitrogen-doped graphitic carbon (Co@NPCFs) have been synthesized to work as self-standing and binder-free electrodes in flexible ZABs. These unique nanofibers with nitrogen-doped graphitic carbon are beneficial for electron transport, oxygen capture and desorption of the OH⁻ ions. The Co@NPCFs could provide rich active sites and exhibit good catalytic activity for both the oxygen evolution reaction and the oxygen reduction reaction. The fabricated composites with a flexible self-standing network structure can be applied directly to flexible ZABs and contact well with gel electrolyte when bending the batteries. As a result, this strategy provides a good example of flexible self-standing electrodes for ZABs and can also be extended to other flexible electric energy storage devices.

中文翻译：

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钴纳米颗粒与固定在碳纤维上的氮掺杂石墨碳结合在一起，作为柔性锌-空气电池的自立式空气电极

尽管由于其优点，锌-空气电池（ZAB）进行了广泛的研究，但仍然存在改进柔性ZAB的空间，尤其是通过确定合适的自立式柔性电极材料。在这里，已经合成了嵌入有Co纳米颗粒和氮掺杂石墨碳（Co @ NPCFs）的柔性多孔纳米纤维，作为柔性ZAB中的自立式无粘合剂电极。这些用氮掺杂的石墨碳纳米纤维特有的是用于电子传输，氧捕获和解吸的OH的有益^-离子。Co @ NPCFs可以提供丰富的活性位点，并且对氧释放反应和氧还原反应均具有良好的催化活性。制成的具有柔性自立网络结构的复合材料可直接应用于柔性ZAB，并在弯曲电池时与凝胶电解质良好接触。结果，该策略提供了用于ZAB的柔性自立式电极的好例子，并且还可以扩展到其他柔性电能存储设备。