{
  "abstract": "Dearth of a wide-range pH-adaptable bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst is a bottleneck in the advancement of efficient metal-air batteries as catalysts optimized for alkaline media often lose effectiveness under near-neutral conditions. Herein, we report an ultralow (~1 atomic%) amount of CoNi alloy loaded polypyrrole-derived graphitic nanoparticle (CoNiPpy) system as a pH-adaptable oxygen electrocatalyst for high energy density and durability in near-neutral zinc-air batteries (ZABs) with 100% coulombic efficiency. The efficient activity of CoNiPpy towards oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions (ORR and OER) is established, with CoNiPpy showing a lower overpotential than the benchmarked Pt-IrO2 catalyst combo in both alkaline and near-neutral electrolytes. When employed as the air cathode in rechargeable ZABs, CoNiPpy outperforms Pt/C benchmarks, sustaining > 650 cycles in alkaline electrolyte and >1100 cycles for ~200 h in near-neutral electrolyte. Stable operating voltages of 1.435 V and 1.235 V are achieved in alkaline and near-neutral ZABs respectively. Series connected cells further power a 33 mW lighting load for more than 1 h and operate portable sensors, demonstrating functionality beyond conventional electrochemical benchmarking. Detailed full-cell analysis demonstrates that, rather than relying on high metal loadings, trace CoNi incorporation into a conductive N-containing carbon framework can enable a single bifunctional air cathode to operate across both alkaline and near-neutral ZAB chemistries. The findings further emphasize that appropriate electrolyte selection plays an important role in full-cell performance and guiding the development of scalable zinc-air battery systems.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Hyderabad, Serilingampally Mandal, Hyderabad, India, 500046",
    "Electrical and Computer Engineering, Binghamton University, P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton, NY, 13902-6000",
    "Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering",
    "Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur",
    "Integrated Discovery Sciences Directorate",
    "Pacific Northwest National Laboratory"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Subhra R. Pattanayak"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Pallavi Thakur"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Saswata Goswami"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Hyoju Park"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Arun Devaraj"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Chandra Sekhar Tiwary"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Tharangattu N. Narayanan"
    },
    {
      "name": "Subhra Ranjita Pattanayak",
      "orcid": "0009-0000-3830-661X"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fh23b80e2ftr0.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15009865/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "fh23b80e2ftr0",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009865/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2105|Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220360725",
  "pdf_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/pdf/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009865/v1",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-05",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fh23b80e2ftr0.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:22Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15009865",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009865/v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:2105|Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion",
      "subfield": "electrochemistry-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Ultra-Low CoNi Alloy Nanoparticle Loaded Polypyrrole Nanospheres as Oxygen Electrocatalysts in Alkaline to Near-Neutral Zinc-Air Batteries",
  "title_text": "Ultra-Low CoNi Alloy Nanoparticle Loaded Polypyrrole Nanospheres as Oxygen Electrocatalysts in Alkaline to Near-Neutral Zinc-Air Batteries",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:22Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fh23b80e2ftr0",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}