Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (6): 1502-1510.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(21)63932-3

• Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Atomic modulation of Fe-Co pentlandite coupled with nitrogen-doped carbon sphere for boosting oxygen catalysis

Si-Jie Li, Yong Xie, Bi-Lin Lai, Yingmin Liang, Kang Xiao, Ting Ouyang, Nan Li*(), Zhao-Qing Liu#()   

  1. Institute of Clean Energy and Materials, Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Clean Energy and Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China
  • Received:2021-08-18 Accepted:2021-08-18 Online:2022-06-18 Published:2022-04-14
  • Contact: Nan Li, Zhao-Qing Liu
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(21875048);Guangdong Natural Science Foundation(2020B1515020028);Guangdong Natural Science Foundation(2020A1515011551);Major Scientific Project of Guangdong University(2017KZDXM059);Yangcheng Scholars Research Project of Guangzhou(201831820);Science and Technology Research Project of Guangzhou(202002010007);Science and Technology Research Project of Guangzhou(202102010484);College Student Climbing Program(pdjh2020b0469)

Abstract:

Reversible oxygen reaction plays a crucial role in rechargeable battery systems, but it is limited by the slow reaction kinetics. Herein, the ionic modulation of cobalt pentlandite coupled with nitrogen-doped bowl-like hollow carbon sphere is well designed on octahedral and tetrahedral sites. The robust FexCo9-xS8-NHCS-V with iron replacing at the octahedron possesses prolonged metal sulfur bond and exhibits excellent bifunctional electrocatalytic performance towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR, E1/2 = 0.80 V vs. RHE) and excellent oxygen evolution reaction (OER, Ej = 10 = 1.53 V vs. RHE) in 0.1 mol/L KOH. Accordingly, a rechargeable Zn-air battery of FexCo9-xS8-NHCS-V cathode endows high energy efficiency (102 mW cm-2), and a microbial fuel cell achieves a high-power density (791 ± 42 mW m -2), outperforming the benchmark Pt/C catalyst.

Key words: Oxygen electrocatalysis, Transition metal sulfide, Nitrogen-doped carbon, Pentlandite structure, Zinc-air battery