NiMn layered double hydroxides with promoted surface defects as bifunctional electrocatalysts for rechargeable zinc–air batteries

[Display omitted] •NiMn layered double hydroxides were obtained by coprecipitation.•NiMn with a 3:1 Ni to Mn atomic composition was highly active for OER.•Surface defects were easily induced in NiMn LDH by using ethylene glycol.•The ZAB operated for 50 h with a ΔV of 150 mV between cycles 1 and 180. Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are attractive bidimensional materials for electrochemical applications because of their high activity in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). However, their limited bifunctionality due to the slow kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is a bottleneck for their use in secondary Zn-air batteries (ZABs). In this work, cobalt-free NiMn LDHs were rationally designed by optimizing the Ni composition and incorporating surface defects onto the LDH (oxygen vacancies, Ov) while performing interface engineering using a carbonaceous support enriched with nitrogen heteroatoms. The LDHs without induced defects presented the optimal activity for the OER at a 3:1 Ni/Mn atomic ratio (onset potential 1.47 V vs. 1.45 V for IrO2/C), while the ORR was unfavorable. However, the further optimization by introducing Ov and N–heteroatoms (labeled as Ov-NiMn LDH/NCNTG) allowed bifunctionality by improving the onset potential to 0.90 V while decreasing the half-wave potential difference from 180 mV for the material without induced defects to 100 mV, and by improving the limiting current density by a factor of two. In this regard, density of states (DOS) calculations suggested that surface defects improved the electronic transfer while decreasing the oxygen adsorption energy. ZAB tests indicated that the interface-engineered material allowed a battery voltage of 1.47 V, and a power density of 64 mW cm−2. The battery also maintained stability over 180 charge/discharge cycles at 10 mA cm−2 (50 h), with ΔV below 150 mV between the initial and final cycles.