Nitrogen-coordinated single iron atom catalysts derived from metal organic frameworks for oxygen reduction reaction

Publication date: Available online 11 April 2019Source: Nano EnergyAuthor(s): Fei Xiao, Gui-Liang Xu, Cheng-Jun Sun, Mingjie Xu, Wen Wen, Qi Wang, Meng Gu, Shangqian Zhu, Yueying Li, Zidong Wei, Xiaoqing Pan, Jiangan Wang, Khalil Amine, Minhua ShaoAbstractIron and nitrogen co-doped carbon (Fe-N-C) catalysts hold great promise to replace platinum group metal used for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in low-temperature fuel cells. However, general synthesis routes require tedious acid washing and extensive heat treatment, usually resulting in uncontrollable morphologies and undesirable compounds. In this work, a zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) was employed as a self-template for one-pot synthesis of a Fe-N-C catalyst consisting of uniformly dispersed Fe single atoms. Atomically dispersed Fe atoms were well distributed along the edges of the porous carbon matrix. Each of the Fe atoms was coordinated with four N atoms in the plane and two O atoms in the axial direction. The optimized Fe-N-C catalyst showed excellent ORR activities with half-wave potentials of 0.81 and 0.90 V in acidic and alkaline solutions, respectively. The results may be important for the optimization of single-atom-based catalysts for various reactions.Graphical abstract

Source: Nano Energy - April 15, 2019 Category: Nanotechnology Source Type: research