Bifunctional Electrocatalytic Activity of Nitrogen-Doped NiO Nanosheets for Rechargeable Zinc–Air Batteries

In order to improve the efficiencies and service lifetimes of rechargeable Zn–air batteries, it is necessary to develop highly efficient air electrocatalysts. In the present study, we prove that the bifunctional electrocatalytic activity in NiO nanosheets is effectively improved by the synergistic effects of N dopants and considerably porous structure. As an electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), the as-prepared porous N-doped NiO nanosheets exhibit good activities with the small overpotential and ideal half-wave potential, which is superior to Ir/C electrocatalyst. Besides, it is proved that the process of HO* being oxidized to O* is the OER potential rate-determining step; also the OER electrocatalytic performance of NiO can be markedly promote by the doping of N atoms using the density functional theory calculations. Furthermore, the fabricated Zn–air battery based on the porous N-doped NiO nanosheets also exhibits superior activities, outperforming many reported NiO-based electrocatalyst materials. Two series Zn–air cells with a voltage of 2.80 V can power a red light-emitting diode, which shows their large potential for various applications.