Construction of iron doped cobalt- vanadate- cobalt oxide with metal-organic framework oriented nanoflakes for portable rechargeable zinc-air batteries powered total water splitting

The exploration of highly efficient, cost-effective, long-term sustainable oxygen reduction, oxygen evolution, and hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts is crucially important to the production of renewable energy storage and conversion applications, including fuel cells and rechargeable zinc-air batteries. Herein, a trifunctional electrocatalyst based on iron-doped metal-organic framework assisted cobalt vanadate integrated with cobalt oxide (Fe doped MOF [email protected] nanoflakes) is described in a facile synthetic approach. This synthetic strategy provides a unique nanoflakes heterostructure, an abundant porous structure, high specific surface area, and extremely large active sites. Additionally, the nitrogen element is also incorporated into the MOF scaffold during the pyrolysis under the nitrogen environment, greatly facilitating the electrochemical behavior. The prepared Fe doped MOF [email protected] nanoflakes catalysts possess excellent and stable electrochemical activity for ORR, OER, HER, and overall water splitting reaction. The rechargeable zinc-air battery is fabricated using Fe doped MOF [email protected] nanoflakes as an air cathode having excellent charge-discharge performance and high cyclic stability. Eventually, the developed zinc-air battery is used as self-power water splitting for the overall water splitting under room temperature. This study creates new opportunities for the fabrication of advanced earth-abundant electrocatalysts for electrochemical energy-related applications.