Abstract
The Cu3P/MoP catalyst with hollow porous carbon nanospheres as the support was successfully constructed as an ORR electrocatalyst through high temperature phosphating. The excellent electrocatalytic activity is the result of the strong electronic interaction between Cu3P and MoP components, as well as the hollow porous structure promotes rapid mass transfer.
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•The Cu3P/MoP@C catalyst is fabricated by impregnation and phosphating treatment.•The catalyst exhibits highly active ORR performance than commercial Pt/C in alkaline solution.•The Cu3P/MoP@C displays a superb stability over 231 h superior to Pt/C in Zn-air battery.•The porous structure and synergy between Cu3P and MoP dominate the excellent performance.
Developing high-efficient non-noble metal-based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is an inevitable way to improve Zinc-air batteries' performance (ZAB). Herein, we report a Cu3P/MoP electrocatalyst (Cu3P/MoP@C) supported by hollow-porous-carbon nanospheres displaying high electrocatalytic activity and exceptional durability in alkaline media. The optimized ORR catalyst outperformed the benchmark Pt/C (20 wt%) and most recently reported Cu-/Mo-based catalysts in various aspects. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals that the excellent ORR performance originates from the charge transfer between of Cu3P and MoP species. Besides, the large specific surface area of Cu3P/MoP@C with mesoporous structure is particularly advantageous for the inner surface contact with electrolyte to accelerate ORR kinetics. Moreover, Cu3P/MoP@C also exhibits a large power density of 156 mW cm−2, a high round-trip efficiency, and superb stability over 231 h superior to Pt/C in the ZAB. This work offers a scalable and promising approach for the rational fabrication of hollow porous structure materials.