Designing High-Quality Electrocatalysts Based on CoO:MnO₂@C Supported on Carbon Cloth Fibers as Bifunctional Air Cathodes for Application in Rechargeable Zn–Air Battery

To achieve the requirements of rechargeable Zn–air batteries (ZABs), designing efficient, bifunctional, stable, and cost-effective electrocatalysts is vital for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which still are struggling with unsolved challenges. The present research provides a concept based on the nanoscale composites which were engineered by using MnO 2 @C, CoO@C, and CoO:MnO 2 @C bifunctional electrocatalysts for fabrication of uniform carbon cloth (CC)-based electrodes. The CoO:MnO 2 @C electrocatalyst represented more efficient electrochemical properties through ORR and OER processes with superior positive half-wave potential ( E 1/2 = 0.78 V) and better limiting current density ( i = 1.10 mA cm –2 ) in comparison with MnO 2 @C ( E 1/2 = 0.71 V, i = 0.92 mA cm –2 ) and CoO@C ( E 1/2 = 0.69 V, i = 0.86 mA cm –2 ) electrocatalysts. For the rechargeable ZABs fabricated by using CoO:MnO 2 @C–CC as an O 2 -breathing cathode, the specific capacity (SC), peak power density ( P ), open-circuit voltage ( E OCV ), and gap of charge/discharge voltage resulted in values of 520 mAh g Zn –1, 210.0 mW cm –2, and 1.45 and 0.45 V, respectively, that afforded greater electrochemical characters than what was obtained for ZABs based on MnO 2 @C–CC (410 mAh g Zn –1, 195.0 mW cm –2, 1.38 and 0.44 V) and CoO@C–CC (440 mAh g Zn –1, 165.0 mW cm –2, 1.15 and 0.54 V). At the same time, lower E i =10 (= 1.45 V) implied a more efficient OER in alkaline electrolyte solution for CoO:MnO 2 @C than MnO 2 @C ( E i =10 = 1.50 V) and CoO@C ( E i =10 = 1.39 V). Based on cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results, it could be stated that the CoO:MnO 2 @C catalytic surface could experience 30 and 32% lower charge transfer resistance ( R ct = 13.9 Ω) than MnO 2 @C ( R ct = 20.1 Ω) and CoO@C ( R ct = 29.7 Ω), respectively, which empowers an enhancement in ORR/OER performance. Prominently, the design concept of proposed electrocatalysts could suggest clear horizon for the synthesis and development paradigms of bifunctional catalysts for energy storage materials and devices.