Superior Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Phosphorus-Doped Carbon Dot/Graphene Aerogel for All-Solid-State Flexible Al–Air Batteries

Mengran Wang, Yuan Li*, Jing Fang, Cesar J. Villa, Yaobin Xu, Shiqiang Hao, Jie Li, Yexiang Liu, Chris Wolverton, Xinqi Chen, Vinayak P. Dravid, Yanqing Lai

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

126 Scopus citations

Abstract

Carbon dots have been recognized as one of the most promising candidates for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline media. However, the desired ORR performance in metal–air batteries is often limited by the moderate electrocatalytic activity and the lack of a method to realize good dispersion. To address these issues, herein a biomass-deriving method is reported to achieve the in situ phosphorus doping (P-doping) of carbon dots and their simultaneous decoration onto graphene matrix. The resultant product, namely P-doped carbon dot/graphene (P-CD/G) nanocomposites, can reach an ultrahigh P-doping level for carbon nanomaterials. The P-CD/G nanocomposites are found to exhibit excellent ORR activity, which is highly comparable to the commercial Pt/C catalysts. When used as the cathode materials for a primary liquid Al–air battery, the device shows an impressive power density of 157.3 mW cm−2 (comparing to 151.5 mW cm−2 of a similar Pt/C battery). Finally, an all-solid-state flexible Al–air battery is designed and fabricated based on our new nanocomposites. The device exhibits a stable discharge voltage of ≈1.2 V upon different bending states. This study introduces a unique biomass-derived material system to replace the noble metal catalysts for future portable and wearable electronic devices.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number1902736
JournalAdvanced Energy Materials
Volume10
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2020

Funding

M.W. and Y.L. contributed equally to this work. The authors thank the financial support from the key program of international cooperation of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 51720105014) and the general program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 51674299). The authors also thank the other support from the Engineering Research Centre of Advanced Battery Materials, the Ministry of Education, China. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DMR-1507810. This work made use of the EPIC, Keck-II, and SPID facilities of Northwestern University's NUANCE Center, which has received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF ECCS-1542205); the MRSEC program (NSF DMR-1720139) at the Materials Research Center; the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN); the Keck Foundation; and the State of Illinois, through the IIN.

Keywords

  • all-solid-state flexible Al–air batteries
  • biomass-deriving method
  • carbon dots
  • graphene
  • oxygen reduction reaction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • General Materials Science

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