大连理工大学杨明辉团队报道了亚稳亚氧化锆电催化氧还原。相关研究成果发表在2024年5月10日出版的《德国应用化学》。

探索高性能电催化剂的策略对于推进清洁能源技术非常重要。难以大量获得的亚稳态相，例如低温或界面结构，可以提供这样的催化活性表面。

该文中，研究人员在Zr-ZrO₂界面形成但没有出现在实验Zr-O相图中的低氧化物Zr₃O，表现出卓越的氧还原反应（ORR）性能，超过了基准Pt/C和大多数过渡金属基催化剂。添加Fe₃C纳米颗粒以得到Zr-Zr₃O-Fe₃C/NC催化剂（NC=氮掺杂的碳），其半波电位（E_1/2）为0.914V，优于Pt/C，并且在20000次电化学循环后仅显示出3mV的下降。

使用这种阴极材料的锌-空气电池（ZABs）具有241.1mW cm^-2的高功率密度，并且在超过50天的连续循环中保持稳定，显示出实际应用的潜力。Zr₃O表明难以稳定的界面相或其他相，可能为发现高性能电催化剂提供新的方向。

附：英文原文

Title: Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction Using Metastable Zirconium Suboxide

Author: Huashuai Hu, Zhihang Xu, Zhaorui Zhang, Xiaohui Yan, Ye Zhu, J. Paul Attfield, Minghui Yang

Issue&Volume: 2024-05-10

Abstract: Strategies for discovery of high-performance electrocatalysts are important to advance clean energy technologies. Metastable phases such as low temperature or interfacial structures that are difficult to access in bulk may offer such catalytically active surfaces. We report here that the suboxide Zr3O, which is formed at Zr-ZrO2 interfaces but does not appear in the experimental Zr-O phase diagram exhibits outstanding oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance surpassing that of benchmark Pt/C and most transition metal-based catalysts. Addition of Fe3C nanoparticles to give a Zr-Zr3O-Fe3C/NC catalyst (NC = nitrogen-doped carbon) gives a half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.914 V, outperforming Pt/C and showing only a 3 mV decrease after 20,000 electrochemical cycles. A zinc-air battery (ZAB) using this cathode material has a high power density of 241.1 mW cm-2 and remains stable for over 50 days of continuous cycling, demonstrating potential for practical applications. Zr3O demonstrates that interfacial or other phases that are difficult to stabilize may offer new directions for the discovery of high-performance electrocatalysts.

DOI: 10.1002/anie.202404374

Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202404374