Designing a bifunctional catalyst with efficient and consistent stability is important for development and application of zinc–air batteries. Herein, a Co@WC_1-x/NCNTs composite that contains a heterostructure consisting of cobalt and tungsten carbide (WC_1-x) and loaded on self-assembled N-doped carbon nanotubes (NCNTs), is synthesized from simple compounds using facile hydrothermal and calcination. Co@WC_1-x/NCNTs composite demonstrates outstanding electrocatalytic performance for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with higher half-wave potential (0.81 V) and the current density of 5.75 mA cm⁻², as well as for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) having a lower overpotential (330 mV). Furthermore, it possess an ultra-high power density of 290 mW cm⁻², a specific capacity of 754.9 mAh g⁻¹ and charge-discharge stability in zinc-air batteries. The superior electrocatalytic performance of the composite may be ascribed to the synergistic effect between Co@WC_1-x heterostructure, and N-doped carbon nanotubes. The formation of a heterojunction interface between Co and WC_1-x may make possible the enrichment of electrons from carbon to Co (NCNTs→WC_1-x→Highly active sites Co) during the catalytic process. This in turn facilitates the electrocatalytic process. This research offers a meaningful strategy for exploring efficient bifunctional catalyst used in zinc-air batteries.

设计具有高效且稳定的稳定性的双功能催化剂对锌空气电池的开发和应用至关重要。本文中，使用简便的方法由简单的化合物合成了Co @ WC _1-x / NCNTs复合物，该复合物包含由钴和碳化钨组成的异质结构（WC _1-x），并负载在自组装的N掺杂碳纳米管（NCNTs）上。水热和煅烧。Co @ WC _1-x / NCNTs复合材料对氧还原反应（ORR）表现出出色的电催化性能，具有更高的半波电势（0.81 V）和5.75 mA cm ^-2的电流密度，以及过低电位（330 mV）的析氧反应（OER）。此外，它具有290 mW cm ^-2的超高功率密度，754.9 mAh g ^-1的比容量和锌-空气电池的充放电稳定性。复合材料优异的电催化性能可归因于Co @ WC _1-x异质结构与N掺杂碳纳米管之间的协同作用。Co和WC _1-x之间异质结界面的形成可能使电子从碳富集到Co（NCNTs→WC _1-x→催化过程中的高活性位点Co）。这进而促进了电催化过程。这项研究为探索用于锌空气电池的高效双功能催化剂提供了有意义的策略。