Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2014, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (1): 150-156.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB201311142

• CATALYSIS AND SURFACE SCIENCE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Influence of Calcination Temperature on Performances of Co-N/C Electrocatalysts for Li/O2 Cells

YANG Bing-Jian, WANG Hong, Li Lei, HUANG Bo-Wen, LIAO Xiao-Zhen, HE Yu-Shi, MA Zi-Feng   

  1. Institute of Electrochemical and Energy Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, P. R. China
  • Received:2013-09-16 Revised:2013-11-08 Published:2014-01-01
  • Contact: LIAO Xiao-Zhen E-mail:Liaoxz@sjtu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:

    The project was supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (973) (2014CB932303) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (21073120, 21336003, 21006063).

Abstract:

The development of low-cost and effective electrocatalysts for air electrodes is critical for practical applications of lithium/oxygen batteries. In the present work, phenanthroline (phen) was used as a ligand to prepare a Co(phen)2 complex. The Co(phen)2 complex was coated on BP2000 and then heat treated at 600, 700, 800, and 900 ℃, to obtain carbon-supported Co-N (Co-N/C) catalysts. The catalytic activities in oxygen reduction reaction/oxygen evolution reaction (ORR/OER) of the prepared catalysts were measured and compared with those of a typical carbon-supported cobalt tetramethoxyphenylporphyrin (CoTMPP/C) catalyst. The influence of the calcination temperature on the composition and structure of the Co-N/C catalysts was investigated. Electrochemical tests showed that the Co-N/C catalysts prepared at 700 and 800 ℃ gave better performances, comparable to that of the CoTMPP/C catalyst. The superior electrochemical performance of the prepared Co-N/C catalysts and the low cost of the phenanthroline chelating agent make Co-N/C a promising cheap catalyst for lithium/oxygen batteries.

Key words: Rechargeable lithium/oxygen battery, Oxygen electrode, ORR/OER catalyst, Cobalt phenanthroline complex, Calcination temperature