Laser-induced pyridinic-nitrogen-rich defective carbon nanotubes for efficient oxygen electrocatalysis

Developing low‐cost, highly active, and stable bi‐functional oxygen reduction and evolutionreaction (ORR/OER) electrocatalysts for rechargeable metal‐air batteries has been regarded as a primary challengefor sustainable energy devices. Herein, for the first time we design and fabricate defective carbon nanotubes (CNTs) enriched with pyridinic nitrogenvia laser irradiation for oxygenelectrocatalysis. Mesopores with plentiful edges are produced on the surface of CNTs, which not only facilitate mass transfer throughout CNTs architecture, but also are favorable for the incorporation of pyridinic nitrogen serving as the active sites for ORR/OER. The as‐prepared catalyst shows dramatically enhanced catalytic activity with half‐wave potential of 0.84 V (vs. RHE) for ORR and an overpotential of 0.36 V for OER in alkaline medium. More importantly, it exhibits excellent Zinc‐air battery charge/discharge cycling stability.Yuehui Yin, Xuechun Sun, Miao Zhou, Xueru Zhao, Jiayi Qin, Shi-Zhang Qiao, Xi-Wen Du, and Jing Yan