ZIF-8-derived Fe/P/N-co-doped carbon as efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction and zinc–air batteries†

Fe–N–C electrocatalysts doped with heteroatoms are considered to be one of the most promising candidates to replace Pt-based materials and, hence, overcome the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for many energy conversion devices. Herein, a very facile strategy to prepare a Fe–P/N–C hybrid through pyrolyzing Fe/P-co-doped zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) was rationally designed. Characterizations exhibited that the Fe/P atoms were uniformly embedded in the N-doped carbon framework. Compared with the undoped precursor, the doped product showed considerably improved ORR performance with a more positive half-wave potential (E_1/2 = 0.88 V) in alkaline media. When assembled as a cathode catalyst in a zinc–air battery, the product delivered a peak power density of 157.5 mW cm⁻². This work provides a facile and novel design strategy for obtaining highly active ORR catalysts for Zn–air batteries.