Enhancing the bifunctional activity of CoSe2 nanocubes by surface decoration of CeO2 for advanced zinc-air batteries

Yonglong Huang; Yuzhou Liu; Yanzhu Deng; Jing Zhang; Beibei He; Jian Sun; Zhihong Yang; Wei Zhou; Ling Zhao

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.094

Enhancing the bifunctional activity of CoSe₂ nanocubes by surface decoration of CeO₂ for advanced zinc-air batteries

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Nov:625:839-849. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.094. Epub 2022 Jun 23.

Authors

Yonglong Huang¹, Yuzhou Liu¹, Yanzhu Deng¹, Jing Zhang¹, Beibei He², Jian Sun¹, Zhihong Yang¹, Wei Zhou¹, Ling Zhao³

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
² Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; Shenzhen Research Institute, China University of Geosciences, Shenzhen 518000, China. Electronic address: hebb@cug.edu.cn.
³ Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; Shenzhen Research Institute, China University of Geosciences, Shenzhen 518000, China. Electronic address: zhaoling@cug.edu.cn.

PMID: 35772210
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.094

Abstract

The coupling of oxygen evolution and reduction reactions (OER and ORR) plays a key role in rechargeable Zn-air batteries (ZABs). However, both OER and ORR still suffer from sluggish kinetics, even when using the mainstream precious metal-based catalysts. Herein, oxygen vacancies-rich CeO₂ decorated CoSe₂ nanocubes are proposed as a novel air electrode to drive OER and ORR for ZABs. The resultant CeO₂ coupled CoSe₂ nanocubes (CeO₂@CoSe₂-NCs) catalyst exhibits a significantly enhanced bifunctional activity relative to the pristine CoSe₂-NCs and the pristine CeO₂. Moreover, an assembled ZABs using this CeO₂@CoSe₂-NCs electrode delivers a high output power density of 153 mW cm^-2 and a long-life stability over 400 cycles, superior to the benchmark Pt/C-IrO₂ electrode. Theoretical calculations reveal that the electronic interaction and oxygen vacancies in CeO₂@CoSe₂-NCs contribute to efficient oxygen electrocatalysis. This protocol provides a promising approach of constructing oxygen vacancies in hybrid catalysts for energy conversion and storage devices.

Keywords: Bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis; Ceria; Oxygen vacancies; Prussianblueanalogue; Zinc air batteries.