Sun Bin, Liu Pengfei, Wang Panpan, Wang Minghui, Chai Yilong, Cui Fengfeng, Jin Yang
Research Center of Grid Energy Storage and Battery Application, School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, P. R. China.
Henan Key Laboratory of Cable Advanced Materials and Intelligent Manufacturing.
Small. 2025 Jul;21(30):e2501938. doi: 10.1002/smll.202501938. Epub 2025 May 29.
Metal-air batteries (MABs) have attracted considerable attention. However, the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) of air cathode is severe which has obstructed the more extensively application. Here, this study proposes a facile method to obtain heterogeneous oxides catalyst for enhancing the oxygen electrode catalysis where multiple nanosize CoO, MnO and MnCoO (CMMCO) are symbiotic. In this case, the concomitant mono-metal oxide can contribute to atomic ratio modulation effect on MnCoO spinel such as Mn to Mn,Co to Co, resulting in Mn high-spin state transformation into low-spin state and oxygen vacancies, further optimizing the adsorption of intermediates. Obviously, built-in electric field at heterojunction interface dramatically facilitates electron transfer. Also, band-gap change determined by orbital overlap indicates the affinity with reactant. For the resulting CMMCO catalyst, an excellent half-wave potential of E = 0.82 V for the ORR and low polarization potential (360 mV) for OER at 10 mA cm are achieved. Based on CMMCO cathodes, the assembled zinc air batteries demonstrate an impressive peak power density of 179 mW cm and cycling stability. The successful combination between heterogeneous interface regulation and efficient ORR/OER catalysis may provide a pivotal guideline for metal air batteries investigation with low-cost bifunctional catalyst.
金属空气电池（MABs）已引起了广泛关注。然而，空气阴极的氧还原反应（ORR）和析氧反应（OER）缓慢，严重阻碍了其更广泛的应用。在此，本研究提出了一种简便的方法来制备用于增强氧电极催化的异质氧化物催化剂，其中多种纳米尺寸的CoO、MnO和MnCoO（CMMCO）共生。在这种情况下，伴随的单金属氧化物可对MnCoO尖晶石产生原子比调制效应，如Mn与Mn、Co与Co的比例，导致Mn从高自旋态转变为低自旋态并产生氧空位，进一步优化中间体的吸附。显然，异质结界面处的内建电场极大地促进了电子转移。此外，由轨道重叠决定的带隙变化表明了与反应物的亲和力。对于所得的CMMCO催化剂，在10 mA cm下，ORR的半波电位高达E = 0.82 V，OER的极化电位低至360 mV。基于CMMCO阴极组装的锌空气电池展现出令人印象深刻的179 mW cm的峰值功率密度和循环稳定性。异质界面调控与高效ORR/OER催化的成功结合可能为低成本双功能催化剂的金属空气电池研究提供关键指导。
