Hollow Capsule NiCo NS Prepared by Self-Sacrificing Template Method for High-Efficiency Bifunctional Catalyst and Its Application in Zn-Air Battery.

Exploring the application of high-efficiency bifunctional oxygen catalysts to rechargeable zinc-air batteries has been a research hotspot in recent years. We succeeded in obtaining NiCo NS with a hollow capsule structure through the self-sacrificing template method, which has a larger specific surface area and can provide more active sites for electrocatalysis relative to his solid. The introduction of S can change the valence distribution of N and the electronic structure of the M-N bond, so that NiCo NS exhibits excellent performance in the overpotential and stability of the oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions. It shows an overpotential of 154 mV at 10 mA cm and a half-wave potential of 0.76 V. When used as a bi-functional catalyst in zinc-air batteries, it exhibits good stability within 400 h. The flexible battery assembled by NiCo NS also shows excellent performance, and can be cycled stably for 20 h. The current maintains good stability when it is bent at different angles during the cycle.