The fabrication of a bifunctional oxygen electrode without carbon components for alkaline secondary batteries

•Fabrication and development of a carbon free bifunctional gas diffusion electrode.•Good stability and overpotentials on cycling at 50 mA cm−2 for >50 cycles.•Operational up to current densities of 100 mA cm−2.

The fabrication of a gas diffusion electrode (GDE) without carbon components is described. It is therefore suitable for use as a bifunctional oxygen electrode in alkaline secondary batteries. The electrode is fabricated in two stages (a) the formation of a PTFE-bonded nickel powder layer on a nickel foam substrate and (b) the deposition of a NiCo2O4 spinel electrocatalyst layer by dip coating in a nitrate solution and thermal decomposition. The influence of modifications to the procedure on the performance of the GDEs in 8 M NaOH at 333 K is described. The GDEs can support current densities up to 100 mA cm−2 with state-of-the-art overpotentials for both oxygen evolution and oxygen reduction. Stable performance during >50 successive, 1 h oxygen reduction/evolution cycles at a current density of 50 mA cm−2 has been achieved.