Shi Haiyang, Zhang Lei, Huang Xinhua, Kong Qingquan, Abdukayum Abdukader, Zhou Yingtang, Cheng Guoyou, Gao Sanshuang, Hu Guangzhi
School of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Mining Response and Disaster Prevention and Control in Deep Coal Mines, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan, Anhui, 232001, China.
Institute for Ecological Research and Pollution Control of Plateau Lakes, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan, 650504, China.
Small. 2025 Feb;21(7):e2409129. doi: 10.1002/smll.202409129. Epub 2025 Jan 10.
The design and fabrication of nanocatalysts with high accessibility and sintering resistance remain significant challenges in heterogeneous electrocatalysis. Herein, a novel catalyst is introduced that combines electronic pumping with alloy crystal facet engineering. At the nanoscale, the electronic pump leverages the chemical potential difference to drive electron migration from one region to another, separating and transferring electron-hole pairs. This mechanism accelerates the reaction kinetics and improves the reaction rate. The interface electronic structure optimization enables the CoFe/carbon nanotube (CNT) catalyst to exhibit outstanding oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance. Specifically, this catalyst achieves an ORR half-wave potential (E₁/₂) of 0.895 V, outperforming standard Pt/C and RuO₂ electrocatalysts in terms of both specific activity and stability. It also demonstrates excellent electrochemical performance for OER, with an overpotential of only 287 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm⁻. Theoretical calculations reveal that the carefully designed crystal facets reduce the energy barrier of the rate-determining steps for both ORR and OER, optimizing O₂ adsorption and promoting the oxygen capture process. This study highlights the potential of developing cost-effective bifunctional ORR-OER electrocatalysts, offering a promising strategy for advancing Zn-air battery technology.
在多相电催化中，设计和制造具有高可及性和抗烧结性的纳米催化剂仍然是重大挑战。在此，引入了一种将电子泵浦与合金晶面工程相结合的新型催化剂。在纳米尺度上，电子泵利用化学势差驱动电子从一个区域迁移到另一个区域，分离并转移电子 - 空穴对。这种机制加速了反应动力学并提高了反应速率。界面电子结构优化使CoFe/碳纳米管（CNT）催化剂表现出出色的氧还原反应（ORR）和析氧反应（OER）性能。具体而言，该催化剂的ORR半波电位（E₁/₂）为0.895 V，在比活性和稳定性方面均优于标准Pt/C和RuO₂电催化剂。它在OER方面也表现出优异的电化学性能，在电流密度为10 mA cm⁻²时过电位仅为287 mV。理论计算表明，精心设计的晶面降低了ORR和OER速率决定步骤的能垒，优化了O₂吸附并促进了氧捕获过程。这项研究突出了开发具有成本效益的双功能ORR - OER电催化剂的潜力，为推进锌空气电池技术提供了一种有前景的策略。
