Recent Progress of Electrospun Nanofibers for Zinc–Air Batteries

As a potential electrochemical energy storage device, zinc–air batteries (ZABs) received considerable interest in the field of energy conversion and storage due to its high energy density and eco-friendliness. Nevertheless, the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions limit the commercial development of ZABs, so it is of great significance to develop efficient, low-cost and non-noble metal bifunctional catalysts. Electrospun one-dimensional nanofibers with unique properties such as high porosity and large surface area have great advantages on possessing more active sites, shortening the diffusion pathways for ions/electrons, and improving the kinetics via intercalation/de-intercalation processes, which endow them with promising application in the field of energy storage devices, especially ZABs. This review firstly introduces the electrospinning technique. Then, the oxygen reduction/evolution reaction triggered by electrospun nanofibers with self-supported structures are presented, followed by the application of electrospun nanofibers for liquid and flexible solid-state ZABs. Finally, the remaining challenges and research directions of ZABs based on electrospun nanofibers electrocatalysts are briefly discussed.Graphic Abstract