Metal Single‐Site Molecular Complex–MXene Heteroelectrocatalysts Interspersed Graphene Nanonetwork for Efficient Dual‐Task of Water Splitting and Metal–Air Batteries
Thanh Hai Nguyen, Phan Khanh Linh Tran, Van An Dinh, Duy Thanh Tran, Nam Hoon Kim, Joong Hee Lee
Abstract
Abstract Development of multifunctional electrocatalysts with high efficiency and stability is of great interest in recent energy conversion technologies. Herein, a novel heteroelectrocatalyst of molecular iron complex (Fe MC )‐carbide MXene (Mo 2 TiC 2 T x ) uniformly embedded in a 3D graphene‐based hierarchical network (GrH) is rationally designed. The coexistence of Fe MC and MXene with their unique interactions triggers optimum electronic properties, rich multiple active sites, and favorite free adsorption energy for excellent trifunctional catalytic activities. Meanwhile, the highly porous GrH effectively promotes a multichannel architecture for charge transfer and gas/ion diffusion to improve stability. Therefore, the Fe MC –MXene/GrH results in superb performances towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline medium. The practical tests indicate that Zn/Al–air batteries derived from Fe MC –MXene/GrH cathodic electrodes produce high power densities of 165.6 and 172.7 mW cm −2 , respectively. Impressively, the liquid‐state Zn–air battery delivers excellent cycling stability of over 1100 h. In addition, the alkaline water electrolyzer induces a low cell voltage of 1.55 V at 10 mA cm −2 and 1.86 V at 0.4 A cm −2 in 30 wt.% KOH at 80 °C, surpassing recent reports. The achievements suggest an exciting multifunctional electrocatalyst for electrochemical energy applications.