Hollow Carbon Nanopolyhedra for Enhanced Electrocatalysis via Confined Hierarchical Porosity

A novel strategy for the fabrication of hollow Co and N-codoped carbon nanopolyhedra (H-CoNC) from metal–organic framework (MOF) using in situ evaporation of ZnO nanosphere templates is proposed. The excess Zn supply during the pyrolysis process is found beneficial in terms of high nitrogen (≈9.75 at%), relatively homogenous CoN bonding, and the electrochemically accessible hierarchical porous system. Compared with other reported “solid” CoNC of identical surface areas, the newly developed H-CoNC shows enhanced kinetic current in 0.1 m KOH electrolyte and elevated oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance in 6 m KOH. The latter exceeds results obtained with the benchmark 20 wt% Pt/C, which is related to the strong confinement of O2 molecules in the H-CoNC hierarchical porous system. Furthermore, the H-CoNC displays great tolerance toward the methanol crossover and KSCN poisoning. Finally, the assembled Zn–air batteries with H-CoNC yield a record open circuit potential (1.59 V vs Zn, stabilized at 1.52 V), high power density (331.0 mW cm−2), and promising rate performance. This work provides a new guideline for the design of MOF-derived carbon materials, as well as novel insights into spatial confinement effect toward the ORR activity.