Superdurable Bifunctional Oxygen Electrocatalyst for High-Performance Zinc-Air Batteries.

The development of high-efficiency and durable bifunctional electrocatalysts for both the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is critical for the widespread application of rechargeable zinc-air (Zn-air) batteries. This calls for rational screening of targeted ORR/OER components and precise control of their atomic and electronic structures to produce synergistic effects. Here, we report a Mn-doped RuO 2 (Mn-RuO 2 ) bimetallic oxide with atomic-scale dispersion of Mn atoms into the RuO 2 lattice, which exhibits remarkable activity and super durability for both the ORR and OER, with a very low potential difference (Δ E ) of 0.64 V between the half-wave potential of ORR ( E 1/2 ) and the OER potential at 10 mA cm -2 ( E j 10 ) and a negligible decay of E 1/2 and E j 10 after 250 000 and 30 000 CV cycles for ORR and OER, respectively. Moreover, Zn-air batteries using the Mn-RuO 2 catalysts exhibit a high power density of 181 mW cm -2 , low charge/discharge voltage gaps of 0.69/0.96/1.38 V, and ultralong lifespans of 15 000/2800/1800 cycles (corresponding to 2500/467/300 h operation time) at a current density of 10/50/100 mA cm -2 , respectively. Theoretical calculations reveal that the excellent performances of Mn-RuO 2 is mainly due to the precise optimization of valence state and d -band center for appropriate adsorption energy of the oxygenated intermediates.