A universal strategy for fabricating bimetallic nanoparticle/N-doped carbon electrocatalysts enabling wide-temperature zinc–air batteries

Zinc-air batteries (ZABs) exhibit significant potential for energy storage applications. However, their semi-open configuration renders the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) highly susceptible to temperature fluctuations. Herein, we present a versatile strategy for preparing bimetallic nanoparticles embedded in nitrogen-doped carbon composites (BM NPs/NC), including FeCo, CuCo, NiCo, and MnCo NPs/NC. By modulating the chemical composition of the NP precursors, we optimize the catalytic performance of these composites for both ORR and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Specifically, FeCo NPs/NC exhibits exceptional ORR activity, with a half-wave potential of 0.89 V, and high OER performance with a low overpotential of 0.324 V at 10 mA cm^-2. When integrated into ZABs, FeCo NPs/NC-based batteries demonstrate remarkable peak specific capacity, power density, and cycling stability (800 h). The batteries retain 97.6% and 95.8% of their room-temperature specific capacity at -20 °C and 60 °C, respectively, and exhibit excellent performance across a wide temperature range. This work highlights the potential of BM NPs/NC for practical applications in extreme environments.