Thiocyanate Ion Ligand-Induced Atomically Dispersed Fe–N–S Tridoped Hollow Catalyst for High-Performance Zinc–Air Rechargeable Batteries

ZIF-8-derived Fe–N–S triple doping hollow-shell nanoparticles are prepared by the surface modification of SCN– ligands. Fe3+ ions are highly adsorbed on the SCN–-modified layer, forming a hollow-shell rhombic dodecahedron particle after pyrolysis. Doping extra S atom is found to be an effective method to increase the density of atomically dispersed active sites and boost their catalytic performance. The H-ZIF-Fe-SCN catalyst shows good bifunctional stability toward the oxygen reduction reaction and the oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline solution, the half-wave potential for the H-ZIF-Fe-SCN catalyst was recorded to be 0.889 V vs reverse hydrogen electrode, and a maximum power performance of 158.8 mW cm–2 was achieved when it was used as a cathode catalyst in zinc–air batteries.