Regulating Fe-spin state by atomically dispersed Mn-N in Fe-N-C catalysts with high oxygen reduction activity

Autor: Hengbo Yin, Junqi Cheng, Xiaoyi Xue, Pengfei Yuan, Jiawei Zhu, Jin Li, Gege Yang, Yongfeng Hu, Jianan Zhang, Wenzheng Cheng, Bang-An Lu, Wenjing Xu, Gan Qu, Shichun Mu, Jin-Song Hu
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Nature Communications, Vol 12, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
Nature Communications
ISSN: 2041-1723
Popis: As low-cost electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction applied to fuel cells and metal-air batteries, atomic-dispersed transition metal-nitrogen-carbon materials are emerging, but the genuine mechanism thereof is still arguable. Herein, by rational design and synthesis of dual-metal atomically dispersed Fe,Mn/N-C catalyst as model object, we unravel that the O2 reduction preferentially takes place on FeIII in the FeN4 /C system with intermediate spin state which possesses one eg electron (t2g4eg1) readily penetrating the antibonding π-orbital of oxygen. Both magnetic measurements and theoretical calculation reveal that the adjacent atomically dispersed Mn-N moieties can effectively activate the FeIII sites by both spin-state transition and electronic modulation, rendering the excellent ORR performances of Fe,Mn/N-C in both alkaline and acidic media (halfwave positionals are 0.928 V in 0.1 M KOH, and 0.804 V in 0.1 M HClO4), and good durability, which outperforms and has almost the same activity of commercial Pt/C, respectively. In addition, it presents a superior power density of 160.8 mW cm−2 and long-term durability in reversible zinc–air batteries. The work brings new insight into the oxygen reduction reaction process on the metal-nitrogen-carbon active sites, undoubtedly leading the exploration towards high effective low-cost non-precious catalysts.
The working mechanism of several low-cost electrocatalyst materials is still arguable. Here the authors show a model Fe,Mn/N-C catalyst where the oxygen reduction preferentially takes place on Fe(III) sites with the intermediate spin state (t2g4 eg1) caused by the adjacent Mn-N moieties.
Databáze: OpenAIRE