posted on 2021-09-21, 13:05authored byLinxin Zhong, Chengyu Jiang, Mengting Zheng, Xinwen Peng, Tongchao Liu, Shibo Xi, Xiao Chi, Qinghua Zhang, Lin Gu, Shanqing Zhang, Ge Shi, Lei Zhang, Kunze Wu, Zehong Chen, Tingzhen Li, Mouad Dahbi, Jones Alami, Khalil Amine, Jun Lu
Low-cost and efficient oxygen reduction
reaction (ORR)/oxygen evolution
reaction (OER) bifunctional electrocatalysts are vital for the applications
of rechargeable Zn–air batteries (ZABs). Given the high catalytic
activity of single-atom catalysts (SACs), preparing SACs on a large
scale for ZABs is desirable but remains challenging. Herein, in situ formation of single-atom Fe–N–C catalysts
on plate wood-based porous carbon is achieved via a facile Lewis acid
pretreatment and carbonization process. Lewis acid FeCl3 pretreatment on the cell wall of wood not only produces abundant
microchannels but also successfully introduces atomically dispersed
Fe–N active species into the hierarchical structure. Such uniformly
dispersive SACs on the hierarchical structure enhance the ORR/OER
performance and durability. A ZAB using the catalyst in the cathode
shows a high power density (70.2 mW cm–2, at quasi
solid state) and long-term stability. This work provides a new path
for the large-scale preparation of high-performance SACs.