Heteroatom-rich Porous Carbon for High-loading Asymmetric Single-atom Catalyst toward Efficient Zinc-air Batteries

Jia-Ming Li; Xuan-Hua Chen; Tan Yi; Xiao-Yu Qiao; Jun-Long Huang; Shao-Hong Liu

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3851-y

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Heteroatom-rich Porous Carbon for High-loading Asymmetric Single-atom Catalyst toward Efficient Zinc-air Batteries

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-11-04

- Heteroatom-rich Porous Carbon for High-loading Asymmetric Single-atom Catalyst toward Efficient Zinc-air Batteries
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Pages: 1-8(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.Key Laboratory for Polymeric Composite and Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
  b.Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR), Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
- Author bio：
  
  huang.junlong.d5@tohoku.ac.jp (J.L.H.)
  liushh27@mail.sysu.edu.cn (S.H.L.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3851-y
  CLC：
- Received：08 July 2026，
  
  Accepted：17 August 2026，
  
  Online First：04 November 2026，
  
  Published：2026-09
- Accepted：
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Li, J. M.; Chen, X. H.; Yi, T.; Qiao, X. Y.; Huang, J. L.; Liu, S. H. Heteroatom-rich porous carbon for high-loading asymmetric single-atom catalyst toward efficient zinc-air batteries. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3851-y

Jia-Ming Li, Xuan-Hua Chen, Tan Yi, et al. Heteroatom-rich Porous Carbon for High-loading Asymmetric Single-atom Catalyst toward Efficient Zinc-air Batteries[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-8.
Li, J. M.; Chen, X. H.; Yi, T.; Qiao, X. Y.; Huang, J. L.; Liu, S. H. Heteroatom-rich porous carbon for high-loading asymmetric single-atom catalyst toward efficient zinc-air batteries. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3851-y DOI：

Jia-Ming Li, Xuan-Hua Chen, Tan Yi, et al. Heteroatom-rich Porous Carbon for High-loading Asymmetric Single-atom Catalyst toward Efficient Zinc-air Batteries[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-8. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3851-y.

摘要

Abstract

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) are promising low-cost materials for zinc-air batteries

yet simultaneously achieving high density and high intrinsic activity of atomic sites remains a significant challenge. Herein

a sulfur and nitrogen co-doped porous carbon (SNC) featur

ing high heteroatom contents (16.0 wt% sulfur and 10.1 wt% nitrogen) and a hierarchical porous architecture

is developed as a robust substrate for cobalt single-atom catalysts. Benefiting from these abundant anchoring sites and synergistic S/N coordination

a high-loading Co SAC (Co/SNC

8.9 wt%) with an asymmetric Co―S

configuration are successfully fabricated. The unique coordination environment optimizes the electronic structure and reaction kinetics

endowing Co/SNC with outstanding oxygen reduction reaction activity (

1/2

=0.89 V)

surpassing commercial Pt/C. When employed as cathode catalyst

the zinc-air battery delivers a high specific capacity (789 mAh·g

–1

)

peak power density (98 mW·cm

–2

)

and robust long-term durability. This work offers a promising strategy for the rational design of high-performance SACs for energy conversion devices.

关键词

Keywords

references

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