FeCu‐N6‐C Diatomic Sites Catalyst for the Boosted Oxygen Reduction Reactions in Zinc‐air Batteries.

Due to the high catalytic activity and stability for oxygen reduction reaction, N‐coordinated Fe‐Cu dual‐metal doped carbon material (FeCu‐N‐C) is considered to be one of the promising electrode materials for metal‐air battery and fuel cells. Herein, FeCu‐N‐C dual‐metal catalysts was synthesized by an adsorption–calcination strategy. The prepared FeCu‐N‐C exhibited high activity and stability both in alkaline and acidic media. In alkaline/acid medium the half‐wave potential reaches to 0.90/0.80 V, which is better than Fe‐N‐C catalyst. The power density for FeCu‐N‐C in zinc‐air battery reaches to 220 mW cm‐2 and shows high electrochemical stability for more than 600 hours in charge/discharge cycles, much higher than 130 hours for Pt/C (40%) and 100 hours for Fe‐N‐C. Density‐functional theory calculations showed that the FeCu‐N‐C dual‐metal catalysts got lower overpotential of 0.50 V than Fe‐N‐C (0.53 V), which improved the ORR activity. The results are helpful for the deep understand of high‐performance diatomic catalysts.