Electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) are required components to enhance performance of whole system such as fuel cells and metal-air batteries which could be part of power sources for various sizes of electrical devices. Platinum is the best electrocatalyst for ORR until the present, but it has several problems especially high cost. From this reasons, many researchers have studied cheaper materials than Pt such as non-precious metal electrocatalysts(NPMC) which has similar electrochemical properties of Pt in alkaline media. Here we demonstrate iron embedded carbon fiber derived by silk fibroin and ketjenblack composite oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalyst. Silk fibroin is component of silk cocoon which is consisted of amino acids such as glycine, alanine, and serine contained nitrogen for contributing ORR activity. In addition, it forms beta pleated sheets which consist of beta strands connected laterally by at least two or three backbone hydrogen bonds. Herein, high amount of glycine make tight packing of the sheets which is the factor for enhancing rigid structure and tensile strength of silk fibroin. From the fact, we report cable-type flexible zinc-air battery based on catalyst derived by silk fibroin.

Iron embedded carbon fiber derived by silk fibroin and ketjenblack composite electrocatalyst for cable-type flexible zinc-air battery

248th National Meeting (2014)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.