High Performance Bi-Functional Catalyst Material For Zinc-Air Batteries

In order to respond to national calls,conform to government policy guidelines,and solve the pressure caused by the growing energy shortage and environmental protection in modern society,we have made great efforts in the research process to promote the conversion of alternative energy and the development of energy storage related technologies.In the past research,people continue to explore,research and develop higher energy density,more economical,safer battery technology,what's more,promoted a series of studies on the development of improved rechargeable batteries.Zinc-air battery is considered to be an environmentally friendly battery for future development due to its low cost and environmental friendliness.For zinc-air batteries,the electrochemical reduction?ORR?and evolution?OER?of oxygen under alkaline conditions are the basic ways to the charge and discharge of zinc-air batteries.Therefore,an electrocatalyst with high activity and high durability in the reaction is indispensable.In order to achieve high utilization rate and cyclicity of zinc-air batteries,it is necessary to design dual-functional oxygen catalyst materials with high activity and stability to further enhance the performance of zinc-air batteries and improve the energy efficiency and service life of batteries.This paper is modified on the basis of the latest bifunctional oxygen catalyst research progress of the air cathode of the zinc-air battery,and some basic understanding of the rechargeable zinc-air battery and the electrocatalytic mechanism of ORR and OER are also briefly discussed.The carbon material with biomass as a precursor is rich in resources,many organisms can be used as carbon sources,its price is also relatively low and easy to obtain,and the bio-carbon structure is stable and not prone to change.Excellent catalyst carrier can promote catalyst-carrier synergy and speed up the electrochemical reaction.In this paper,the common fish scales and catkins in life are used as the precursor of bio-carbon to carry cobalt,and compare their electrocatalytic performance,charge and discharge performance.Due to the transition metal oxide has good conductivity and stability.In recent years,transition metal oxides which are mainly containing manganese,cobalt,and nickel have been considered as effective electrocatalysts to promote ORR and OER processes in alkaline media.This catalyst material provides good electrocatalytic activity for ORR and OER.In this paper,the solid-phase grinding method was used to synthesize binary transition metal oxides MnCo₂O₄ and NiCo₂O₄ respectively as catalysts for zinc-air batteries,the performance of the two was discussed through the test and analysis of their performance.Finally,the bulk structure of MnCo₂O₄ was optimized and modified,the hollow structure of MnCo₂O₄ was synthesized,and its electrode catalytic performance and charge-discharge performance in zinc-air batteries were studied.The linear scanning voltammogram of MnCo₂O₄ with hollow structure was tested using a rotating disk electrode,At the same time,the linear scanning voltammetry curves of the hollow structure MnCo₂O₄ and the bulk structure MnCo₂O₄ and the corresponding K-L equation slope and Tafel slope were plotted.The hollow-structured MnCo₂O₄ catalyst material synthesized after optimized modification showed good charge-discharge cycle performance.In general,after many experimental conclusions and the results of other researchers,zinc-air batteries have good performance and huge space for development,and are expected to become the main energy source for energy storage and mobile devices.