Hierarchical porous yolk-shell Co-N-C nanocatalysts encaged in graphene nanopockets for high-performance Zn-air battery

The rational design and preparation of promising cathode electrocatalysts with excellent activity and strong stability for metal-air batteries is a huge challenge.In this work,we innovate an approach of combining solvothermal with high-temperature pyrolysis utilizing zeolitic imidazolate framework(ZIF)-8 and ZIF-67 as the template to synthesize a novel hybrid material of hierarchical porous yolk-shell Co-N-C polyhedron nanocatalysts engaged in graphene nanopocket(yolk-shell Co-N-C@GNP).The obtained catalyst exhibits prominent bifunctional electrocatalytic performance for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)and oxygen evolution reaction(OER)in the alkaline condition,in which the half-wave potential is 0.86 V for ORR,and the over-potential for OER is 0.42 V at 10 mA·cm^(-2).The rechargeable aqueous Zn-air battery fabricated with yolk-shell Co-N-C@GNP cathode deliveries an open circuit voltage(OCV)of 1.60 V,a peak power density of 236.2 mW·cm^(-2),and excellent cycling stability over 94 h at 5 mA·cm^(-2).The quasi-solid-state Zn-air battery(ZAB)using yolk-shell Co-N-C@GNP displays a high OCV of 1.40 V and a small voltage gap of 0.88 V in continuous cycling tests at 2 mA·cm^(-2).This work provides a valuable thought to focus attention on the design of high-efficient bifunctional catalysts with hierarchical porous yolk-shell framework and high-density metal active sites for metal-air battery technologies.