MOF-derived nanocarbon materials loaded with bimetallic sulfides as cathode catalysts for zinc–air batteries

It is of great significance for chemical energy storage devices, especially for the practical application of rechargeable zinc–air batteries (ZABs), to find efficient and economical bifunctional catalysts. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have recently become hot research materials, and are often used as precursors of catalysts. This paper reports a carbon skeleton-coated bimetallic sulfide derived from MOF nanostructures that were used as cathode catalysts for ZABs. The N,S co-doped carbon-loaded FeS2,CoS2 ((Co,Fe)S2/CNS) catalysts exhibit excellent electrochemical properties in alkaline solutions due to the protection of metal sulfides by the carbon structure, the synergy of bimetallic Fe and Co, and the high surface area of the carbon skeleton. (Co,Fe)S2/CNS catalysts show a very low potential difference (ΔE = 0.68 V), a high specific capacity (759.1 mA h g−1) and good charge–discharge cycling performance (360 cycles/120 h) when applied to ZABs. This indicates that the prepared (Co,Fe)S2/CNS catalysts have a broad application prospect in the field of ZABs.