Porous rare earth-transition metal bimetallic oxide nanoparticles oxygen electrocatalyst for rechargeable Zinc-air battery

• Use cheap SiO 2 as a template to assist the high-temperature pyrolysis strategy. • SmFeO x bimetallic nanoparticles coated with SiO 2 to form a stable spherical shell structure • The co-doping of Fe and Sm oxides has a synergistic effect and improves the catalytic activity of ORR. • SmFeO x @NC has good ORR performance and good stability. The design and preparation of efficient nonprecious metal catalysts for the ORR, it is still a big challenge in alkaline media. Therefore, there is a need to develop an efficient electrocatalyst to meet the current problems such as energy scarcity in society In this experiment, a series of bimetallic oxide nanoparticle catalysts (SmFeO x @CN) with fairly good morphology, which combine the advantages of rare earths and transition metal oxides, were successfully prepared by using silica dioxide as an encapsulated template and later removed. The bimetallic oxide nanoparticle catalyst produces redox activity that is comparable to that of commercial platinum-carbon catalysts and shows excellent stability, power and energy densities. This excellent performance is owed to the concerted effect of bimetallic oxide nanoparticles and the special electronic layer structure of rare earths.