Spinel-type cobalt oxide (Co3O4) was synthesized and used as a photoactive bifunctional electrocatalyst towards the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the air cathode of zinc–air batteries (ZABs).
Using free solar energy in oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts to enhance the efficiency of zinc‐air batteries (ZABs) has not yet been widely investigated. Herein, we report a photoactive bifunctional catalyst of spinel‐type NiCo2S4 (NCS) urchin‐like structure with rich mesopores and direct band gap energies of ca. 1.4 and 2.4 eV. The NCS catalyst exhibits high catalytic activities for both OER (ɳ=338 mV at 10 mA cm−2) and ORR (ɳ=475 mV at E1/2), comparable to that of the state‐of‐the‐art counterparts (e. g., Pt/C for ORR, RuO2 for OER). Under light illumination, the p‐type photoactive NCS catalyst can absorb visible light, generating photogenerated holes and photoelectrons via the photoelectric effect for direct conversion of photoenergy into electric energy with increasing kinetics charge transfer process and provides ca. 10 and 18.5 % lower OER and ORR overpotentials, respectively than those under the dark condition. In addition, the as‐fabricated zinc‐air battery with the photoactive NCS as the cathode exhibits decrease in voltage gap from 0.82 to 0.60 V with an increasing round‐trip efficiency from 59.2 % to 68.8 % after exposed to visible light. The zinc‐air battery with a reversible redox reaction for the simultaneous conversion of chemical and photoenergy into electric energy could open a new pathway for the utilization of a single energy conversion and storage device.
A modified hydrolysed polyethylene with polyaniline was used as a dual functional interlayer/separator for high-performance lithium–sulphur batteries (LSBs) to reduce the migration of soluble polysulphide intermediates.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.