Co single atoms and nanoparticles dispersed on N-doped carbon nanotube as high-performance catalysts for Zn-air batteries

Diminishing the size of active sites in catalysts is promis-ing to improve the kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)and reduce the cost of metal-air batteries.However,the facile preparation of high-performance catalysts with nanoscale active sites still suffers from great challenge.Herein,we report a facile template-free strategy to fabri-cate Co single atoms and nanoparticles dispersed on porous N-doped carbon nanotube(Co-NCNT)by the pyrolysis of the composites of metal-organic complexes and porous carbon nanotube.Different from the conventional strategy,the precursor metal-organic complexes in this work were prepared under mild conditions and used without complex purification procedures.Compared with the pristine carbon nanotube,N-doped carbon nanotube with abundant meso-pores contribute to the formation of nanoscale Co sites.