Boric Acid-Assisted Pyrolysis for High-Loading Single-Atom Catalysts to Boost Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Zn-Air Batteries

Abstract

The emerging of single-atom catalysts (SACs) offers a great opportunity for the development of advanced energy storage and conversion devices due to their excellent activity and durability, but the actual mass production of high-loading SACs is still challenging. Herein, a facile and green boron acid (H₃BO₃)-assisted pyrolysis strategy is put forward to synthesize SACs by only using chitosan, cobalt salt and H₃BO₃ as precursor, and the effect of H₃BO₃ is deeply investigated. The results show that molten boron oxide derived from H₃BO₃ as ideal high-temperature carbonization media and blocking media play important role in the synthesis process. As a result, the acquired Co/N/B tri-doped porous carbon framework (Co-N-B-C) not only presents hierarchical porous structure, large specific surface area and abundant carbon edges but also possesses high-loading single Co atom (4.2 wt.%), thus giving rise to outstanding oxygen catalytic performance. When employed as a catalyst for air cathode in Zn-air batteries, the resultant Co-N-B-C catalyst shows remarkable power density and long-term stability. Clearly, our work gains deep insight into the role of H₃BO₃ and provides a new avenue to synthesis of high-performance SACs.

Keywords

boric acid / oxygen reduction reaction / single-atom catalysts / Zn-air batteries

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2022 2022 The Authors. Energy & Environmental Materials published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Zhengzhou University.