Coupling Fe₃ C Nanoparticles and N-Doping on Wood-Derived Carbon to Construct Reversible Cathode for Zn-Air Batteries

Electrochemical reduction of oxygen plays a critical role in emerging electrochemical energy technologies. Multiple electron transfer processes, involving adsorption and activation of O₂ and generation of protons from water molecules, cause the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, a double-active-site catalyst of Fe₃ C nanoparticles coupled to paulownia wood-derived N-doped carbon (Fe₃ C@NPW) is fabricated via an active-site-uniting strategy. One site on Fe₃ C nanoparticles contributes to activating water molecules, while another site on N-doped carbon is responsible for activating oxygen molecules. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of double active sites, Fe₃ C@NPW delivers a remarkable catalytic activity for ORR with a half-wave potential of 0.87 V (vs. RHE) in alkaline electrolyte, outperforming commercial Pt/C catalyst. Moreover, zinc-air batteries (ZABs) assembled with Fe₃ C@NPW as a catalyst on cathode achieve a large specific capacity of 804.4 mA h g_Zn^-1 and a long-term stability of 780 cycles. The model solid-state ZABs also display satisfactory performances with an open-circuit voltage of 1.39 V and a high peak power density of 78 mW cm^-2 . These outstanding performances reach the level of first-rank among the non-noble metal electrode materials. This work offers a promising approach to creating double-active-site catalysts by the active-site-uniting strategy for energy conversion fields.