Developing high-performance and low-cost electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is still a great challenge for Al-air batteries. Herein, CeO, a unique ORR promoter, was incorporated into ketjenblack (KB) supported CoO catalyst. We developed a facile two-step hydrothermal approach to fabricate CoO-CeO/KB as a high-performance ORR catalyst for Al-air batteries. The ORR activity of CoO/KB was significantly increased by mixing with CeO nanoparticles. In addition, the CoO-CeO/KB showed a better electrocatalytic performance and stability than 20 wt % Pt/C in alkaline electrolytes, making it a good candidate for highly active ORR catalysts. CoO-CeO/KB favored a four-electron pathway in ORR due to the synergistic interactions between CeO and CoO. In full cell tests, the CoO-CeO/KB exhibited a higher discharge voltage plateau than CeO/KB and CoO/KB when used in cathode in Al-air batteries.
High-performance, low cost catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) remains a big challenge. Herein, nanostructured NiCo2O4/CNTs hybrid was proposed as a high-performance catalyst for metal/air battery for the first time. The well-formed NiCo2O4/CNTs hybrid was studied by steady-state linear polarization curves and galvanostatic discharge curves in comparison with CNTs-free NiCo2O4 and commercial carbon-supported Pt. Because of the synergistic effect, NiCo2O4/CNTs hybrid exhibited significant improvement of catalytic performance in comparison with NiCo2O4 or CNTs alone, even outperforming Pt/C hybrid in ORR process. In addition, the benefits of Ni incorporation were demonstrated by the improved catalytic performance of NiCo2O4/CNTs compared to Co3O4/CNTs, which should be attributed to improved electrical conductivity and new, highly efficient, active sites created by Ni cation incorporation into the spinel structure. NiCo2O4/CNTs hybrid could be used as a promising catalyst for high power metal/air battery.
It is of significance to design catalysts for achieving high‐performance electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia (NRA) in mild neutral media. However, the faradaic efficiency and selectivity are still far from satisfactory. Here, the fabrication of an efficient catalyst was achieved by rationally doping Fe to Cu into a metasequoia‐like nanocrystal of CuFe for NRA in neutral media. Fe doping was found to deepen energy level of the Cu 3d band, favorably tuning adsorption energies of reaction intermediates to promote the NRA. At an applied potential of −0.7 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode, the CuFe with approximately 2 % Fe doping content delivered a catalytic current density of 55.6 mA cm−2, which was 2.1 times that of the Cu material. The CuFe also exhibited a faradaic efficiency up to 94.5 %, and a good selectivity of 86.8 %.
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