Zhu Weikang, Liu Haotian, Yue Runfei, Pei Yabiao, Zhang Junfeng, Liu Xin, Li Ran, Yin Yan, Guiver Michael D
State Key Laboratory of Engines, School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China.
R&D center, Shenzhen CONE Technology Co. Ltd, Shenzhen, 518116, P. R. China.
Small. 2022 Sep;18(35):e2202660. doi: 10.1002/smll.202202660. Epub 2022 Aug 4.
As a core component, the catalyst layer (CL) is widely used in fuel cell, metal-air battery, and other energy conversion devices. Herein, a highly efficient method for CL preparation via fast current-driven synthesis followed by pyrolysis is proposed. Compared with previously reported fabrication procedures of zeolite imidazolate frameworks (ZIF)-based CLs, this method directly deposits the ZIF precursor onto the conductive substrate in a very short time (≤15 min). The self-supporting CL, converted from ZIF membrane by simple single-step pyrolysis, is assembled with the gas diffusion layer to obtain cathode. Electrochemical tests exhibit a small potential gap (0.83 V) between the oxygen reduction and evolution reactions, as well as high performance and excellent stability for Zn-air battery (241 mW cm at 390 mA cm ), due to the unique design of a bi-continuous framework (interconnected pores and long carbon nanotubes) and Co-based active sites. This work may provide new directions for the fast fabrication of non-platinum group metal CLs for metal-air batteries or fuel cell applications.
作为核心组件，催化剂层（CL）广泛应用于燃料电池、金属空气电池及其他能量转换装置中。在此，提出了一种通过快速电流驱动合成随后热解来制备CL的高效方法。与先前报道的基于沸石咪唑酯骨架（ZIF）的CL制备工艺相比，该方法能在极短时间（≤15分钟）内将ZIF前驱体直接沉积在导电基底上。通过简单的一步热解由ZIF膜转化而来的自支撑CL，与气体扩散层组装以获得阴极。电化学测试显示，氧还原和析氧反应之间的电位差较小（0.83V），并且由于双连续骨架（相互连接的孔隙和长碳纳米管）和钴基活性位点的独特设计，锌空气电池具有高性能和出色的稳定性（在390mA/cm²时为241mW/cm²）。这项工作可能为快速制备用于金属空气电池或燃料电池应用的非铂族金属CL提供新方向。
