FeCo Alloy Nanoparticles on Porous Carbon for Zinc–Air Batteries

Bifunctional catalysts (OER/ORR) require lower overpotentials and fast mass transfer, but developing transition metal-based bifunctional catalysts that can satisfy these requirements remains a major challenge. Herein, a composite consisting of FeCo alloy nanoparticles uniformly loaded on three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical porous nitrogen-doped carbon (FeCo/HP-NC) is rationally designed. The electronic modulation of the FeCo alloy can provide a favorable electronic structure for the OER/OER reaction, while the hierarchical porous carbon structure can facilitate not only the accessible channels but also the mass transfer for electrocatalytic reactions. Thus, FeCo/HP-NC provides modest overpotentials (E1/2 = 0.83 V, η = 0.335 V). In particular, when compared with commercially available noble catalysts, FeCo/HP-NC offers a higher power density, more stable voltage (1.43 V), and stability that exceeds 300 h as the cathode. As for this investigation, strategies for increasing the catalytic performance of oxygen electrocatalysis and the power density of energy storage applications could be proposed.