Enhancing Interaction between Lanthanum Manganese Cobalt Oxide and Carbon Black through Different Approaches for Primary Zn–Air Batteries

Due to the need for decarbonization in energy generation, it is necessary to develop electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), a key process in energy generation systems such as fuel cells and metal–air batteries. Perovskite–carbon material composites have emerged as active and stable electrocatalysts for the ORR, and the interaction between both components is a crucial aspect for electrocatalytic activity. This work explores different mixing methods for composite preparation, including mortar mixing, ball milling, and hydrothermal and thermal treatments. Hydrothermal treatment combined with ball milling resulted in the most favorable electrocatalytic performance, promoting intimate and extensive contact between the perovskite and carbon material and improving electrocatalytic activity. Employing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), an increase in the number of M-O-C species was observed, indicating enhanced interaction between the perovskite and the carbon material due to the adopted mixing methods. This finding was further corroborated by temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) and temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) techniques. Interestingly, the ball milling method results in similar performance to the hydrothermal method in the zinc–air battery and, thus, is preferable because of the ease and straightforward scalability of the preparation process.