Herein, we successfully construct bifunctional electrocatalysts by synthesizing atomically dispersed Fe-Se atom pairs supported on N-doped carbon (Fe-Se/NC). The obtained Fe-Se/NC shows a noteworthy bifunctional oxygen catalytic performance with a low potential difference of 0.698 V, far superior to that of reported Fe-based single-atom catalysts. The theoretical calculations reveal that p-d orbital hybridization around the Fe-Se atom pairs leads to remarkably asymmetrical polarized charge distributions. Fe-Se/NC based solid-state rechargeable Zn-air batteries (ZABs-Fe-Se/NC) present stable charge/discharge of 200 h (1090 cycles) at 20 mA cm-2 at 25 °C, which is 6.9 times of ZABs-Pt/C+Ir/C. At extremely low temperature of -40 °C, ZABs-Fe-Se/NC displays an ultra-robust cycling performance of 741 h (4041 cycles) at 1 mA cm-2 , which is about 11.7 times of ZABs-Pt/C+Ir/C. More importantly, ZABs-Fe-Se/NC could be operated for 133 h (725 cycles) even at 5 mA cm-2 at -40 °C. 

Synergistic Fe−Se Atom Pairs as Bifunctional Oxygen Electrocatalysts Boost Low‐Temperature Rechargeable Zn‐Air Battery

Sustainable zinc-air batteries (ZABs) are considered promising energy storage devices owing to their inherent safety, high energy density, wide operating temperature window, environmental friendliness, etc., showing great prospect for future large-scale applications. Thus, tremendous efforts have been devoted to addressing the critical challenges associated with sustainable ZABs, aiming to significantly improve their energy efficiency and prolong their operation lifespan. The growing interest in sustainable ZABs requires in-depth research on oxygen electrocatalysts, electrolytes, and Zn anodes, which have not been systematically reviewed to date. In this review, the fundamentals of ZABs, oxygen electrocatalysts for air cathodes, physicochemical properties of ZAB electrolytes, and issues and strategies for the stabilization of Zn anodes are systematically summarized from the perspective of fundamental characteristics and design principles. Meanwhile, significant advances in the in situ/operando characterization of ZABs are highlighted to provide insights into the reaction mechanism and dynamic evolution of the electrolyte|electrode interface. Finally, several critical thoughts and perspectives are provided regarding the challenges and opportunities for sustainable ZABs. Therefore, this review provides a thorough understanding of the advanced sustainable ZAB chemistry, hoping that this timely and comprehensive review can shed light on the upcoming research horizons of this prosperous area. 

Sustainable zinc-air battery chemistry: advances, challenges and prospects.

Lattice distortion induced Ce-doped NiFe-LDH for efficient oxygen evolution

Herein, we successfully constructed bifunctional electrocatalysts by constructing atomically dispersed Fe-Se atom pairs supported on N-doped carbon (Fe-Se/NC). The obtained Fe-Se/NC shows a noteworthy bifunctional oxygen catalytic performance with a low potential difference of 0.698 V, far superior to that of reported Fe-based single-atom catalysts. The theoretical calculations reveal that p-d orbital hybridization around the Fe-Se atom pairs lead to remarkably asymmetrical polarized charge distributions. Fe-Se/NC based solid-state rechargeable ZABs (ZABs-Fe-Se/NC) present stable charge/discharge of 200 h (1090 cycles) at 20 mA/cm2 at 25 oC, which is 6.9 times of ZABs-Pt/C+Ir/C. At extremely low temperature of -40 oC, ZABs-Fe-Se/NC display an ultra-robust cycling performance of 741 h (4041 cycles) at 1 mA/cm2, which is about 11.7 times longer that of ZABs-Pt/C+Ir/C. More importantly, ZABs-Fe-Se/NC could be operated for 133 h (725 cycles) even at 5 mA/cm2.

Synergistic Fe-Se Atom Pairs as Bifunctional Oxygen Electrocatalysts Boost Low-Temperature Rechargeable Zn-Air Battery.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) are regarded as promising electrochemical energy storage devices owing to its low cost, intrinsic safety, abundant zinc reserves, and ideal specific capacity. Compared with other cathode materials, manganese dioxide with high voltage, environmental protection, and high theoretical specific capacity receives considerable attention. However, the problems of structural instability, manganese dissolution, and poor electrical conductivity make the exploration of high-performance manganese dioxide still a great challenge and impede its practical applications. Besides, zinc storage mechanisms involved are complex and somewhat controversial. To address these issues, tremendous efforts, such as surface engineering, heteroatoms doping, defect engineering, electrolyte modification, and some advanced characterization technologies, have been devoted to improving its electrochemical performance and illustrating zinc storage mechanism. In this review, we particularly focus on the classification of manganese dioxide based on crystal structures, zinc ions storage mechanisms, the existing challenges, and corresponding optimization strategies as well as structure–performance relationship. In the final section, the application perspectives of manganese oxide cathode materials in AZIBs are prospected. 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/eem2.12575

Recent advances on challenges and strategies of manganese dioxide cathodes for aqueous zinc‐ion batteries

Abundant and ubiquitous thermal called low-grade heat (<150 oC) are wasted in our surroundings owing to lack of effective and low-cost energy technologies. Thermo-electrochemical cells (TECs), mainly containing thermogalvanic cells...

Thermo-electrochemical cells for heat to electricity conversion: from mechanisms, materials, strategies to applications

A polyaniline surface-modified Prussian blue analogue cathode for flexible aqueous Zn-ion batteries.

An ultrahigh rate dendrite-free Zn metal deposition/striping enabled by silver nanowire aerogel with optimal atomic affinity with Zn

The efficient operation of Zn-air batteries (ZABs) requires highly active and stable reversible air catalysts. Studies have shown that heteroatom-doped carbonaceous nanomaterials are effective metal-free electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, we design a facile and scalable catalyst doping scheme to manufacture S-doped carbon nitride (S-C3N4). Surprisingly, this metal-free catalyst exhibits excellent OER and ORR electrocatalytic activities in alkaline electrolytes, being comparable to those of commercial Pt/C. For the first time, it is proved by experiments that S doping can not only effectively increase the lattice defects of C3N4 but also promote the conversion of pyrrolic nitrogen to pyridine nitrogen, thereby enhancing the bifunctional catalytic activity (OER and ORR). When the catalyst is used as an air electrode for rechargeable ZABs, its performance is obviously better than that provided by commercial Pt/C. Our findings and material design strategies are expected to provide new ideas for the synthesis of various high-performance carbon-based electrocatalysts.

S-Doping Promotes Pyridine Nitrogen Conversion and Lattice Defects of Carbon Nitride to Enhance the Performance of Zn-Air Batteries.

The storage time of Zn-air batteries (ZABs) for practical implementation has been neglected long-lastingly. ZABs based on organic solvents promise long storage time but suffer from sluggish kinetics. Here, we report a longly storable ZAB with enhanced kinetics mediated by iodine-containing redox. In the charge process, the electrooxidation of Zn5(OH)8Cl2·H2O is accelerated by I3- chemical oxidation. In the discharge process, I- adsorbed on the electrocatalyst changes the energy level of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Benefitting from these advantages, the prepared ZAB shows remarkably improved round-trip efficiency (56.03% vs. 30.97% without the mediator), and long-term cycling time (>2600 h) in ambient air without replacing any components or applying any protective treatment to Zn anode and electrocatalyst. After resting for 30 days without any protection, it can still directly discharge continuously for 32.5 h and charge/discharge very stably for 2200 h (440 cycles), which is evidently superior to aqueous ZABs (only 0/0.25 h, and 50/25 h (10/5 cycles) by mild/alkaline electrolyte replenishment). This study provides a strategy to solve both storage and sluggish kinetics issues that have been plaguing ZABs for centuries, opening up a new avenue to the industrial application of ZABs.

I3-/I- Redox Reaction-mediated Organic Zinc-Air Batteries with Accelerated Kinetics and Long Shelf Lives.

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

Hao Lei

Author Tools

Chat about Author