Design of Fe/Ni-doped N/S-rich carbon with advanced bifunctional electrocatalysis for Zn-air batteries

Bifunctional electrocatalysts for both the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) have attracted broad attention due to the widespread implementation of rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZABs). Herein, we fabricate a Fe/Ni-doped N/S-rich carbon material and test it as an efficient electrocatalyst for both ORR and OER processes. Benefiting from the well-dispersed metal sites on the N/S-rich framework, the material exhibits good electrocatalytic performance with a half-wave potential of 0.82 V. When applied as a cathode electrocatalyst in a home-made zinc-air battery, it displays a higher power density (256 mW cm −2 ) and a larger specific capacity (740 mA h g −1 ) in comparison to Pt/C. This study demonstrates the design of an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for the ORR and OER, which could provide some insight into the development of noble-metal-free bifunctional catalysts for advanced energy conversion. This work demonstrates the design and synthesis of Fe/Ni co-doped and N/S-rich carbon materials as bifunctional electrocatalysts. The obtained POP-Fe/Ni-900 exhibits excellent performance as a cathode electrocatalyst in a home-made zinc-air battery.