Synthesis and characterization of magnetite/graphene nanocomposite material for electrocatalyst of zinc-Air battery chatode

One of the most important parts of the metal-Air battery is the cathode, which must have the requirements of good catalytic and porosity properties. Nowadays, the common material used as a cathode electrocatalyst on metal-Air battery is platinum because of its superior properties. However, the scarcity and the expensive price cause platinum no longer to be the right choice, in hence we need to develop an alternative material for cathode electrocatalyst. The transition metal oxide is considered due to its high abundance, low cost, and environmentally friendly. Magnetite-Fe3O4 has great potential to be developed as electrocatalyst because of its excellent catalytic properties. However, other materials are needed to support electrical conductivity and porosity. Therefore, in this study, Fe3O4/graphene-like nanomaterial was synthesized as an electrocatalyst of metal-Air battery cathode. In this research, magnetite-Fe3O4 synthesis with electrochemically method using multielectrode from solid waste iron plate, whereas graphene-like nanomaterial had synthesized from coconut shell charcoal with a series process of calcination-Hummer method modification-chemical reduction treatments. Magnetite-Fe3O4/graphene-like nanocomposites were fabricated using powder ball mill method and compacted as dense material. This approach offers pure magnetite phase from solid waste iron. The reaction pathways leading to this new morphology and structure have been discussed. Magnetite-Fe3O4/graphene-like composite had specific surface area between 393-542m2/g with pore size of 5.1-6.8nm which is classified as mesoporous material. It observed that Fe3O4 distributed on the graphene-like surface to formed particulate composite. Fe3O4/graphene-like composite shown good ability as electrocatalytic and showed oxygen reduction capability.