As an energy storage device, Zn–air battery has great market prospects due to its relatively high theoretical energy density, low cost, safe and reliable performances. Since the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is a sluggish kinetic process, efficient electrocatalysts are essential to facilitate the ORR. Herein, we report the one-step synthesis of non-precious metals loaded C–N tubular nanocomposites via the pyrolysis of the mixture composed of dicyandiamide (DCD), Co/Ni acetates, ethylenediamine, and different organic carbon sources like soluble starch(st), β-cyclodextrin(cyc) and carbon black(cb). The prepared nanocomposites present a hollow tubular structure, and the Co/Ni nanoparticles are uniformly distributed on the CN nanotubes. In the prepared catalysts, Co 3 Ni 2 /CN(st) exhibits excellent ORR electroactivity close to the Pt/C catalyst in the alkaline medium. An alkaline Zn–air battery is assembled by using the Co 3 Ni 2 /CN(st) as the cathodic electrocatalyst. The open-circuit voltage reaches 1.51 V in 6 mol L −1 KOH electrolyte and the maximum power density reaches 331 mW cm −2 . At different discharging current densities, the Co 3 Ni 2 /CN(st) battery exhibits stable and higher voltage plateaus than the Pt/C battery. The battery can discharge continuously for up to 80 and 51 h, corresponding to the constant discharge current density of 50 and 100 mA cm −2 , respectively. The results show that the Co 3 Ni 2 /C–N(st) catalyst has potential application prospects as an excellent cathodic material for alkaline Zn–air batteries. Graphic Abstract CoNi loaded C–N tubular nanocomposites with well-defined hollow tubular structure, synthesized by one-step pyrolyzing the mixture of cobalt//nickel salts, dicyandiamide (DCD) and different carbon sources including soluble starch(st), β-cyclodextrin(cyc) and carbon black(cb), present superior performance as the cathodic catalysts of alkaline Zn–air batteries.

中文翻译：

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负载 CoNi 的 C-N 管状纳米复合材料作为碱性锌空气电池的优良阴极催化剂

锌空气电池作为一种储能装置，具有较高的理论能量密度、较低的成本、安全可靠的性能，具有广阔的市场前景。由于阴极氧还原反应 (ORR) 是一个缓慢的动力学过程，因此高效的电催化剂对于促进 ORR 至关重要。在此，我们报告了通过热解由双氰胺 (DCD)、Co/Ni 醋酸盐、乙二胺和不同有机碳源（如可溶性淀粉（st））组成的混合物，一步合成负载非贵金属的 C-N 管状纳米复合材料。 )、β-环糊精(cyc)和炭黑(cb)。制备的纳米复合材料呈中空管状结构，Co/Ni纳米颗粒均匀分布在CN纳米管上。在制备的催化剂中，Co 3 Ni 2 /CN(st) 在碱性介质中表现出接近 Pt/C 催化剂的优异 ORR 电活性。通过使用 Co 3 Ni 2 /CN(st) 作为阴极电催化剂组装碱性锌空气电池。在6 mol L -1 KOH电解液中开路电压达到1.51 V，最大功率密度达到331 mW cm -2 。在不同的放电电流密度下，Co 3 Ni 2 /CN(st) 电池比Pt/C 电池表现出稳定且更高的电压平台。电池可以连续放电长达80小时和51小时，分别对应于50和100 mA cm -2 的恒定放电电流密度。结果表明，Co 3 Ni 2 /C-N(st)催化剂作为一种优良的碱性锌空气电池阴极材料具有潜在的应用前景。