Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Polyhedrons Confined Fe–P Nanocrystals as High‐Efficiency Bifunctional Catalysts for Aqueous Zn−CO<sub>2</sub> Batteries
Shuai Liu, Lei Wang, Hui Yang, Sanshuang Gao, Yifan Liu, Shusheng Zhang, Yu Chen, Xijun Liu, Jun Luo
Abstract
Abstract Emerging Fe bonded with heteroatom P in carbon matrix (FePC) holds great promise for electrochemical catalysis, but the design of highly active and cost‐efficient FePC structure for the electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) and aqueous ZnCO 2 batteries (ZCBs) is still challenging. Herein, polyhedron‐shaped bifunctional electrocatalysts, FeP nanocrystals anchored in N‐doped carbon polyhedrons (Fe‐P@NCPs), toward a reversible aqueous ZnCO 2 battery, are reported. The Fe‐P@NCPs are synthesized through a facile strategy by using self‐templated zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), followed by an in situ high‐temperature calcination. The resultant catalysts exhibit aqueous CO 2 RR activity with a CO Faradaic efficiency up to 95% at −0.55 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), comparable to the previously best‐reported values of FeNC structure. The as‐constructed ZCBs with designed Fe‐P@NCPs cathode, show the peak power density of 0.85 mW cm −2 and energy density of 231.8 Wh kg −1 with a cycling durability over 500 cycles, and outstanding stability in terms of discharge voltage for 7 days. The high selectivity and efficiency of the battery are attributed to the presence of highly catalytic FeP nanocrystals in N‐doped carbon matrix, which can effectively increase the number of catalytically active sites and interfacial charge–transfer conductivity, thereby improving the CO 2 RR activity.