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ZIF-8/LiFePO4 derived Fe-N-P Co-doped carbon nanotube encapsulated Fe2P nanoparticles for efficient oxygen reduction and Zn-air batteries

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Abstract

Iron-based oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts have been the focus of research, and iron sources play an important role for the preparation of efficient ORR catalysts. Here, we successfully use LiFePO4 as ideal sources of Fe and P to construct the heteroatom doped Fe-based carbon materials. The obtained Fe-N-P co-doped coral-like carbon nanotube arrays encapsulated Fe2P catalyst (C-ZIF/LFP) shows very high half-wave potential of 0.88 V in alkaline electrolytes toward ORR, superior to Pt/C (0.85 V), and also presents a high half-wave potential of 0.74 V in acidic electrolytes, comparable to Pt/C (0.8 V). When further applied into a home-made Zn-air battery as cathode, a peak power density of 140 mW·cm2 is reached, exceeds commercial Pt/C (110 mW·cm2). Besides, it also presents exceptional durability and methanol resistance compared with Pt/C. Noticeably, the preparation method of such a high-performance catalyst is simple and easy to optimize, suitable for the large-scale production. What’s more, it opens up a more sustainable development scenario to reduce the hazardous wastes such as LiFePO4 by directly using them for preparing high-performance ORR catalysts.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2016YFA0202603) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51672204).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Huihui Jin, Huang Zhou, Pengxia Ji, Chengtian Zhang, Jiahuan Luo, Weihao Zeng, Chenxi Hu, Daping He & Shichun Mu

  2. Hubei Engineering Research Center of RF-Microwave Technology and Application, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Daping He

  3. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Anyang Institute of Technology, Anyang, 455000, China

    Jiahuan Luo

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  1. Huihui Jin
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  2. Huang Zhou
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  3. Pengxia Ji
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Correspondence to Daping He or Shichun Mu.

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12274_2020_2702_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

ZIF-8/LiFePO4 derived Fe-N-P Co-doped carbon nanotube encapsulated Fe2P nanoparticles for efficient oxygen reduction and Zn-air batteries

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Jin, H., Zhou, H., Ji, P. et al. ZIF-8/LiFePO4 derived Fe-N-P Co-doped carbon nanotube encapsulated Fe2P nanoparticles for efficient oxygen reduction and Zn-air batteries. Nano Res. 13, 818–823 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2702-3

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