Primary and rechargeable zinc–air batteries using ceramic and highly stable TiCN as an oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalyst

Abstract

Primary and secondary zinc–air batteries based on ceramic, stable, one dimensional titanium carbonitride (TiCN) nanostructures are reported. The optimized titanium carbonitride composition by density functional theory reveals their good activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Electrochemical measurements show their superior performance for the ORR in alkaline media coupled with favourable kinetics. The nanostructured TiCN lends itself amenable to be used as an air cathode material in primary and rechargeable zinc–air batteries. The battery performance and cyclability are found to be good. Further, we have demonstrated a gel-based electrolyte for rechargeable zinc–air batteries based on a TiCN cathode under ambient, atmospheric conditions without any oxygen supply from a cylinder. The present cell can work at current densities of 10–20 mA cm⁻² (app. 10 000 mA g⁻¹ of TiCN) for several hours (63 h in the case of 10 mA cm⁻²) with a charge retention of 98%. The low cost, noble metal-free, mechanically stable and corrosion resistant TiCN is a very good alternative to Pt for metal–air battery chemistry.