FeNi incorporated N doped carbon nanotubes from glucosamine hydrochloride as highly efficient bifunctional catalyst for long term rechargeable zinc-air batteries

The ingenious design and synthesis of low-cost, non-precious metal bifunctional catalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) and oxygen evolution reactions (OER) is a pressing demand to solve energy crisis and to promote the development of zinc-air batteries. Herein, a simple strategy was developed to derive FeNi incorporated N-doped carbon nanotube (denoted as glu-NiFe) from glucosamine. Extensive metal-nitrogen-carbon (M-N-C) and FeNi alloys act as electrocatalytic active sites for ORR and OER, respectively, together with highly graphitized carbon nanotubes for facilitating electron transport. And the combinations endow glu-NiFe with an ORR half-wave potential of 0.85 V and an OER potential of 1.67 V at 10 mA cm−2, which exceed commercial catalysts of Pt/C and RuO2. Furthermore, the rechargeable Zn-air battery based on glu-NiFe delivers a high peak power density of 127 mW cm−2 and superior cycling stability (over 240 h). Moreover, a favorable performance is exhibited by glu-NiFe based all solid-state Zn-air battery. This work will provide some assistance in designing efficient and low-cost bifunctional catalysts for high performance rechargeable Zn-air batteries.