A cable-type flexible Zn-air battery with a spiral zinc anode, gel polymer electrolyte (GPE), and air cathode coated on a nonprecious metal catalyst is designed in order to extend its application area toward wearable electronic devices.

We have shown that highly efficient metallic pyrochlore oxide nanoparticles (Pb2Ru2O6.5) exhibit outstanding activity as bi-functional electrocatalysts in aqueous Zn–air batteries for ORR and OER.

Electrocatalysts facilitating oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are vital components in advanced fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Here we report Ketjenblack incorporated nitrogen-doped carbon sheets derived from gelatin and apply these easily scalable materials as metal-free electrocatalysts for ORR. These carbon nanosheets demonstrate highly comparable catalytic activity for ORR as well as better durability than commercial Vulcan carbon supported Pt catalysts in alkaline media. Physico-chemical characterization and theoretical calculations suggest that proper combination of graphitic and pyridinic nitrogen species with more exposed edge sites effectively facilitates a formation of superoxide, [O2(ad)](-), via one-electron transfer, thus increasing catalytic activities for ORR. Our results demonstrate a novel strategy to expose more nitrogen doped edge sites by irregular stacked small sheets in developing better electrocatalysts for Zn-air batteries. These desirable architectures are embodied by an amphiphlilic gelatin mediated compatible synthetic strategy between hydrophobic carbon and aqueous water.

A heat-treatment approach for Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O(3-δ) (BSCF5582) is introduced as a way of enhancing the electrocatalytic performance of perovskite catalysts. The perovskite made by heat-treatment in oxygen atmosphere loses around 30 nm of spinel layer on the surface relative to the untreated version, and demonstrates enhanced oxygen reduction reaction and oxygen evolution reaction catalytic activities.