Ordered mesoporous carbon fiber bundles with high-density and accessible Fe-NX active sites as efficient ORR catalysts for Zn-air batteries

Fe-N_X/C electrocatalysts have aroused extensive interest in accelerating sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics as potential alternatives to platinum catalysts in rechargeable Zn-air batteries (ZABs). However, the low density and poor accessibility of Fe-N_X sites have severely restricted the electrocatalytic performance of Fe-N_X/C. Herein, Fe, N co-doped ordered mesoporous carbon fiber bundles are prepared through a ligand-assisted strategy with nitrogen-rich 1,10-phenanthroline as space isolation agent. 1,10-Phenanthroline reveals a six-membered heterocyclic structure containing abundant nitrogen species to tightly coordinate with Fe ions, which is conducive to achieving high-density Fe-N_X sites. Meanwhile, the adoption of SBA-15 as hard-templates enables the catalysts with highly ordered channels and large specific surface areas, improving the accessibility of Fe-N_X sites. The optimal catalyst (PDA-Fe-900) demonstrates a positive half-wave potential of 0.84 V (vs. RHE) in alkaline solution, outperforming the commercial Pt/C (0.83 V). In addition, PDA-Fe-900 delivers comparable ORR performance to commercial Pt/C in acidic electrolyte. Impressively, when PDA-Fe-900 is employed as an air cathode, it achieves large power densities of 163.0 mW/cm² in liquid-state ZAB and 116.6 mW/cm² in the flexible solid-state ZAB. This work provides an efficient ligand-assisted pathway for fabricating catalysts with dense and accessible Fe-N_X sites as high-performance ORR electrocatalysts for ZABs.     

碳模板诱导生长Fe-Nx活性位点

能源危机和环境恶化是当今社会面临的巨大挑战. 燃料电池作为一种高效、清洁的发电装置,受到了社会各界特别是新能源行业的高度关注. 尤其是, 日本丰田推出Mirai燃料电池汽车量产上市计划, 把燃料电池及其关键技术发展推向了一个新的发展纪元. 然而, 制约燃料电池走向大规模商业化的核心问题依然是其综合性能不具竞争力. 其中, 氧电极的缓慢动力学以及贵金属Pt的有限资源、高昂成本等是关键所在, 因此, 亟待实现高性能非贵金属催化剂的突破.近年来, 大量研究表明, Fe-Nx掺杂的碳催化剂具有极大的代Pt潜力, 研究者们尝试各种手段进行开发,如: 调控Fe化合物及N前驱体的类型与添加量, 改变温度、压力等合成条件, 采用轴向配位体连接、共价接枝、球磨等非热解路线, 构建核壳、有序介孔碳、阵列、类石墨烯薄片、多孔碳等碳纳米结构, 制备石墨烯/碳纳米管、石墨烯/碳黑、碳纳米带/碳纳米管、碳纳米颗粒/碳纤维、碳球/碳纳米管/石墨烯等复合材料, 进行酸洗、造孔、二次加热等后处理, 调控不同类型Fe物种相生成等. 此外, EXAFS及M?ssbauer等谱学技术已经证实Fe-Nx特别是Fe-N4为强活性位点. 因此, 有待提出合理策略以促进非贵金属碳催化剂中Fe-Nx强活性位点的高密度掺杂.本文提出了一种碳模板诱导Fe-Nx活性位点生长的方法即通过高温热解含有Fe盐的三聚氰胺前驱体混合物, 成功制备 了Fe-Nx掺杂的碳催化剂, 并结合多种表征技术证实了碳模板对制备碳催化剂结构组成及电化学性能的影响. 形貌结果说明, 碳模板的引入有利于Fe、N化合物的均匀吸附以至于Fe基纳米颗粒的均一成核, 促使竹状碳纳米管在碳模板表面以及中间均一生长; 氮气吸脱附及孔径分布曲线显示, 引入碳模板形成的复合材料较单一的碳纳米管和碳黑材料具有提高的比表面积和总孔体积, 说明复合材料中存在两种单体的有效协同; M?ssbauer、XPS及XRD测试数据证实, 碳模板可以调控Fe、N两种元素的耦合方式, 能够抑制金属Fe和Fe碳化物等非活性Fe物种的生成、诱导Fe-N4和其它Fe氮化物等强活性Fe-Nx物种的生长. 电化学测试数据表明, 复合材料具有提升的面积活性和质量活性, 且TOF值明显提高, 说明碳模板的引入增强了Fe-Nx位点的本征活性; 此外, 复合材料的氧还原过程为高效的4e-途径, 且较商业Pt/C催化剂表现出了优异的循环稳定性和甲醇耐受性.     

Polymer-chelation approach to high-performance Fe-Nx-C catalyst towards oxygen reduction reaction

Pyrolyzed Fe-N_x-C with atomically dispersed Fe-N_x sites are hailed as the most promising alternative to the noble metal Pt-based catalysts towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, the conventional micropore-confinement synthetic approach usually causes the insufficient utilization of active sites and mass transport resistance as the sites are located inside the micropore. We herein report a polymer-chelation strategy to directly disperse the Fe-N_x active sites onto the carbon surface. The N-rich monomer was in-situ polymerized on the carbon support and then chelated with Fe. The strong Fe-N chelating interaction is crucial to suppress Fe aggregation when undergoing the high-temperature pyrolysis. Due to the enriched surface sites, hierarchically porous structure and excellent conductivity of carbon support, the optimal catalyst (denoted as Fe-N_x-C@C-900) exhibits impressive ORR activity of onset and half-wave potential of 1.02 and 0.87 V, respectively, superior to the Pt/C benchmark.     

氮掺杂碳纳米管高负载金属催化剂在铝空气电池中的应用

在铁基催化剂(Fe-N-C)中引入金属铈,采用高温热解法合成了氮掺杂碳纳米管(NCNTs)高负载金属催化剂(Fe/Ce-NCNTs)。金属铈的引入能更好地促进碳纳米管(CNTs)的生长,锚定更多的铁原子,增加Fe—NX活性位点的数量。Fe/CeNCNTs催化剂在碱性介质中表现出良好的催化活性和稳定性,半波电位为0.86 V(vs RHE)。将Fe/Ce-NCNTs催化剂应用于铝空气电池(AABs),其峰值功率密度可达142 mW·cm^-2,在50 mA·cm^-2电流密度下放电比容量达到865 mAh·g^-1,在高电流密度负载下具有较高的电压。     

Self-sacrificial template synthesis of Fe,N co-doped porous carbon as efficient oxygen reduction electrocatalysts towards Zn-air battery application

Designing highly efficient non-precious based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction（ORR） is of significance for the rapid development of metal-air batteries.Herein,a hydrothermal-pyrolysis method is employed to fabricate Fe,N co-doped porous carbon materials as effective ORR electrocatalyst through adopting graphitic carbon nitride（g-C₃ N₄） as both the self-sacrificial templates and N sources.The gC₃ N₄ provides a high concentration of unsatur...     

The synthesis and electro-catalytic activity for ORR of the structured electrode material: CP/Fe-N-CNFs

The structured electrode has the advantages of polymer binder-free, non-precious-metal and without multiple and tedious manual assembly, exhibiting superior electro-catalytic activity for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR), compared with the traditional ink-based electrode. The structured CP/Fe-N-CNFs (Fe and N containing carbon nanofibers (CNFs) in-situ grown on carbon paper (CP)), has been one-step synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). In this paper, it can be concluded that the structured CP/Fe-N-CNFs with 0.30 at.% Fe-N _x moieties exerts the most positive onset-potential (?0.05 V), peak potential, and largest peak current density. The measured current density of the structured Fe-N-CNFs at ?0.8 V is increased by 56.3% compared to that of the traditional Fe-N-CNFs. The traditional Fe-N-CNFs exhibit stronger alkaline tolerance comparing with commercial Pt electrode. That is, the pronounced catalytic activity of the structured Fe-N-CNFs might attribute to the homogeneous and undiluted active sites compared to that of the traditional Fe-N-CNFs.     

Highly exposed NiFeOx nanoclusters supported on boron doped carbon nanotubes for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction

The development of efficient and cost-effective electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial for the overall water splitting. Herein, we prepared a highly exposed NiFeO_x ultra-small nanoclusters supported on boron-doped carbon nonotubes catalyst, which achieves a 10 mA/cm² anodic current density at a low overpotential of 213 mV and the Tafel slope of 52 mV/dec in 1.0 mol/L KOH, superior to the pristine NiFeO_x-CNTs and other state-of-the-art OER catalysts in alkaline media. A combination study (XPS, sXAS and XAFS) verifies that the local atomic structure of Ni and Fe atoms in the nanoclusters are similar to NiO and Fe₂O₃, respectively, and the B atoms which are doped into the crystal lattice of CNTs leads to the optimization of Ni 3d e_g orbitals. Furthermore, in-situ X-ray absorption spectroscopies reveal that the high valence state of Ni atoms are served as the real active sites. This work highlights that the precise control of highly exposed multicomponent nanocluster catalysts paves a new way for designing highly efficient catalysts at the atomic scale.     

Rational Synthesis of Iron/Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Catalyst through a Spatial Isolation Strategy for Efficient Oxygen Reduction in Acidic and Alkaline Media

It remains challenging to rationally synthesize iron/nitrogen-doped carbon (Fe/N-C) catalysts with rich Fe−N_x atomic active sites for improved oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysis. A highly efficient Fe/N-C catalyst, which has been synthesized through a spatial isolation strategy, is reported. Derived from bioinspired polydopamine (PDA)-based hybrid microsphere precursors, it is a multifunctional carrier that loads atomically dispersed Fe³⁺/Zn²⁺ ions through coordination interactions and N-rich melamine through electrostatic attraction and covalent bonding. The Zn²⁺ ions and melamine in the precursor efficiently isolate Fe³⁺ atoms upon pyrolysis to form rich Fe−N_x atomic active sites, and generate abundant micropores during high-temperature treatment; as a consequence, the resultant Fe-N/C catalyst contains rich catalytically active Fe−N_x sites and a hierarchical porous structure. The catalyst exhibits improved ORR activity that is superior to and close to that of Pt/C in alkaline and acidic solutions, respectively.     

Gelatin-Derived 1D Carbon Nanofiber Architecture with Simultaneous Decoration of Single Fe−Nx Sites and Fe/Fe3C Nanoparticles for Efficient Oxygen Reduction

Exploring high-performance non-precious-metal electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is critical. Herein, a scalable and cost-effective strategy is reported for the construction of one-dimensional carbon nanofiber architectures with simultaneous decoration of single Fe−N_x sites and highly dispersed Fe/Fe₃C nanoparticles for efficient ORR, through the Fe^III-complex-assisted electrospinning of gelatin nanofibers with subsequent pre-oxidation and carbonization. Results show that the presence of a Fe^III complex enables the 1D gelatin nanofibers to be well retained during the pre-oxidation process. Owing to the distinct 1D nanofiber structure and the synergistic effect of Fe/Fe₃C and Fe−N_x sites, the resulting electrocatalyst is highly active for ORR with a half-wave potential of 0.885 V (outperforming commercial Pt/C) and a superior electrochemical stability in alkaline electrolytes. Similarly, it also shows a high power density (144.7 mW cm⁻²) and a superior stability in Zn-air batteries. This work opens a path for the design and synthesis of 1D carbon electrocatalyst for efficient ORR catalysis.     

A Reusable CNT-Supported Single-Atom Iron Catalyst for the Highly Efficient Synthesis of C−N Bonds

C−N bond formation is regarded as a very useful and fundamental reaction for the synthesis of nitrogen-containing molecules in both organic and pharmaceutical chemistry. Noble-metal and homogeneous catalysts have frequently been used for C−N bond formation, however, these catalysts have a number of disadvantages, such as high cost, toxicity, and low atom economy. In this work, a low-toxic and cheap iron complex (iron ethylene-1,2-diamine) has been loaded onto carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to prepare a heterogeneous single-atom catalyst (SAC) named Fe-N_x/CNTs. We employed this SAC in the synthesis of C−N bonds for the first time. It was found that Fe-N_x/CNTs is an efficient catalyst for the synthesis of C−N bonds starting from aromatic amines and ketones. Its catalytic performance was excellent, giving yields of up to 96 %, six-fold higher than the yields obtained with noble-metal catalysts, such as AuCl₃/CNTs and RhCl₃/CNTs. The catalyst showed efficacy in the reactions of thirteen aromatic amine substrates, without the need for additives, and seventeen enaminones were obtained. High-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy in combination with X-ray absorption spectroscopy revealed that the iron species were well dispersed in the Fe-N_x/CNTs catalyst as single atoms and that Fe-N_x might be the catalytic active species. This Fe-N_x/CNTs catalyst has potential industrial applications as it could be cycled seven times without any significant loss of activity.     

Amorphous Fe Nanoclusters Embedded inside Balloon-Like N-Doped Hollow Carbon for Efficient Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction

Rational designs of electrocatalytic active sites and architectures are of great importance to develop cost-efficient non-noble metal electrocatalysts towards efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for high-performance energy conversion and storage devices. In this work, active amorphous Fe-based nanoclusters (Fe NC) are elaborately embedded at the inner surface of balloon-like N-doped hollow carbon (Fe NC/C_h sphere) as an efficient ORR electrocatalyst with an ultrathin wall of about 10 nm. When evaluated for electrochemical performance, Fe NC/C_h sphere exhibits decent ORR activity with a diffusion-limited current density of ~5.0 mA/cm² and a half-wave potential of ~0.81 V in alkaline solution, which is comparable with commercial Pt/C and superior to Fe nanoparticles supported on carbon sheet (Fe NP/C sheet) counterpart. The electrochemical analyses combined with electronic structure characterizations reveal that robust Fe-N interactions in amorphous Fe nanoclusters are helpful for the adsorption of surface oxygen-relative species, and the strong support effect of N-doped hollow carbon is benefitial for accelerating the interfacial electron transfer, which jointly contributes to improve ORR kinetics for Fe NC/C_h sphere.     

Constructing Fe-N4 Sites through Anion Exchange-mediated Transformation of Fe Coordination Environments in Hierarchical Carbon Support for Efficient Oxygen Reduction

Metal single atoms (SAs) anchored in carbon support via coordinating with N atoms are efficient active sites to oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, rational design of single atom catalysts with highly exposed active sites is challenging and urgently desirable. Herein, an anion exchange strategy is presented to fabricate Fe-N₄ moieties anchored in hierarchical carbon nanoplates composed of hollow carbon spheres (Fe-SA/N-HCS). With the coordinating O atoms are substituted by N atoms, Fe SAs with Fe-O₄ configuration are transformed into the ones with Fe-N₄ configuration during the thermal activation process. Insights into the evolution of central atoms demonstrate that the SAs with specific coordination environment can be obtained by modulating in situ anion exchange process. The strategy produces a large quantity of electrochemical accessible site and high utilization rate of Fe-N₄. Fe-SA/N-HCS shows excellent ORR electrocatalytic performance with half-wave potential of 0.91 V (vs. RHE) in 0.1 M KOH, and outstanding performance when used in rechargeable aqueous and flexible Zn-air batteries. The evolution pathway for SAs demonstrated in this work offers a novel strategy to design SACs with various coordination environment and enhanced electrocatalytic activity.     

Biomass derived Fe-N/C catalyst for efficiently catalyzing oxygen reduction reaction in both alkaline and neutral pH conditions

Fe-N/C is a promising oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst to substitute the current widely used precious metal platinum. Cost-effectively fabricating the Fe-N/C material with high catalytic activity and getting in-depth insight into the responsible catalytic site are of great significance. In this work, we proposed to use biomass, tea leaves waste, as the precursor to prepare ORR catalyst. By adding 5% FeCl₃ (wt%) into tea precursor, the pyrolysis product (i.e., 5%Fe-N/C) exhibited an excellent four-electron ORR activity, whose onset potential was only 10 mV lower than that of commercial Pt/C. The limiting current density of 5%Fe-N/C (5.75 mA/cm²) was even higher than Pt/C (5.44 mA/cm²). Compared with other biomass or metal organic frameworks derived catalysts, 5%Fe-N/C showed similar ORR activity. Also, both the methanol tolerance and material stability performances of as-prepared 5%Fe-N/C catalyst were superior to that of Pt/C. X-ray adsorption fine structure characterization revealed that the FeN₄O₂ might be the possible catalytic site. An appropriate amount of iron chloride addition not only facilitated catalytic site formation, but also enhanced material conductivity and reaction kinetics. The results of this work may be useful for the Fe based transition metal ORR catalyst design and application.     

Photocatalytic fuel cell for simultaneous antibiotic wastewater treatment and electricity production by anatase TiO2 nanoparticles anchored on Ni foam

Photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) holds great potential for the sustainable production of electricity and degradation of organic pollutants for solving global energy and environmental problems. However, the efficient photodegradation of organic dyes and antibiotic drugs, such as ciprofloxacin (CIP) and methylene blue (MB), remains challenging. Aiming at improving the separation efficiency of hole and electron for electricity generation in the PFC system, TiO₂-NPs@NF-x photoanode was fabricated by a cost-effective and laborsaving hydrothermal approach. The as-fabricated photoanode demonstrated abundant active sites, enhanced light harvesting capacity and photogenerated charge carrier separation. At a CIP-HCl concentration of 10 mg/L and pH value of about 7, 85% of CIP-HCl can be efficiently removed after 3 h irradiation by 300 W Xe lamp. TiO₂-NPs@NF-20 photoelectrode based PFC system exhibited an impressed ability to simultaneously degrade ciprofloxacin and generate electricity under light irradiation with an open circuit voltage of 1.021 V, short circuit current density and maximum power density of 2.4 mA/cm², 0.357 mW/cm², respectively. This work provided a cost-effective method for the treatment of organic waste and generation of electrical power.     

Surface site density and utilization of platinum group metal (PGM)-free Fe–NC and FeNi–NC electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction

Pyrolyzed iron-based platinum group metal (PGM)-free nitrogen-doped single site carbon catalysts (Fe–NC) are possible alternatives to platinum-based carbon catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Bimetallic PGM-free M₁M₂–NC catalysts and their active sites, however, have been poorly studied to date. The present study explores the active accessible sites of mono- and bimetallic Fe–NC and FeNi–NC catalysts. Combining CO cryo chemisorption, X-ray absorption and ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy, we evaluate the number and chemical state of metal sites at the surface of the catalysts along with an estimate of their dispersion and utilization. Fe L_3,2-edge X-ray adsorption spectra, Mössbauer spectra and CO desorption all suggested an essentially identical nature of Fe sites in both monometallic Fe–NC and bimetallic FeNi–NC; however, Ni blocks the formation of active sites during the pyrolysis and thus causes a sharp reduction in the accessible metal site density, while with only a minor direct participation as a catalytic site in the final catalyst. We also use the site density utilization factor, ϕ_{SDsurface/bulk}, as a measure of the metal site dispersion in PGM-free ORR catalysts. ϕ_{SDsurface/bulk} enables a quantitative evaluation and comparison of distinct catalyst synthesis routes in terms of their ratio of accessible metal sites. It gives guidance for further optimization of the accessible site density of M–NC catalysts.

The gravimetric surface density and ORR catalytic turnover frequency of Fe–NC and Fe/Ni–NC catalysts were investigated. Both catalysts feature chemically identical Fe sites, but the presence of Ni lowered the gravimetric surface density of Fe sites.     

In situ confinement of iron-based active sites within high porosity carbon frameworks with enhanced activity for rechargeable Zn–air battery

Non-noble bifunctional electrocatalysts with robust activity and stability toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are greatly significant but challenging for Zn-air batteries. Here, in situ confinement of FeN_x active sites in high porosity carbon framework (FeN_x/CMCC) derived from chelate of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and iron ions were synthesized. Particularly, construction of FeN_x within porous carbon framework accelerates the electron transfer and the sufficient utilization of active centers, and then expedites the reaction kinetics of ORR and OER. As expected, the optimized FeN_x/CMCC exhibits superior ORR activity with a larger half-wave potential of 0.869 V. The rechargeable Zn-air battery delivers a higher power density of 99.6 mW/cm² and a special capacity of 781.9 mA h/g_Zn at 10 mA/cm², together with excellent durability of over 335 h. Remarkably, the as-assembled solid-state battery exhibits a higher open circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.5 V, a special capacity of 709.7 mA h/g_Zn, as well as prolonged cycling stability (90 h). Moreover, the flexible solid-state battery displays negligible loss of electrochemical performance under various bending angles, illustrating its potential application in flexible electronic devices.     

Fe3C coupled with Fe-Nx supported on N-doped carbon as oxygen reduction catalyst for assembling Zn-air battery to drive water splitting

Fe-N-C structures have been considered as a candidate to replace noble metal catalysts towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) due to their excellent electrocatalytic activity and durability. Herein, a zinc-mediated synthesis strategy is proposed for N-doped graphitic porous carbon encapsulated uniform dispersed Fe₃C nanoparticles coupled with atomically dispersed Fe-N_x moieties (NPC/Fe-N-C) derived from biomass coconut shell. The introduction of zinc species could be conductive to the dispersion of iron species and formation of porous structures. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the N-doped carbon coating structures can weaken the oxygen intermediates adsorption energy barrier of Fe₃C. Beside, the graphitic carbon could promote the electron transfer during the electrochemical reaction. These special structures enable NPC/Fe-N-C to have excellent ORR activity with an E_onset of 1.0 V, which is much better than Pt/C. Furthermore, the zinc-air battery assembled by pairing NPC/Fe-N-C with a high-efficiency oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst can continuously and stably operate a charge-discharge potential gap of 0.8 V at 10 mA/cm² for more than 600 h. More importantly, the assembled batteries could drive overall water splitting device, realizing the effective energy conversion.     

Cu/Cu_2O nanoparticles co-regulated carbon catalyst for alkaline Al-air batteries

Developing high-efficiency,inexpensive,and steady non-precious metal oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) catalysts to displace Pt-based catalysts is significant for commercial applications of Al-air battery.Here,we have prepared the Cu/Cu_2 O-NC catalyst with excellent ORR performance and high stability,due to the synergistic effect of Cu and Cu_2 O nanoparticles.The half-wave potential(0.8 V) and the limiting-current density(5.20 mA/cm~2) of the Cu/Cu_2 O-NC are very close to those of the 20% Pt/C catalyst(0.82 V,5.10 mA/cm~2).Besides,it exhibits excellent performance with a maximal power density of 250 mW/cm~2 and a stable continuous discharge for more than 90 h in the Al-air battery test The promoting effects of Cu_2 O towards Cu-based ORR catalysts are illustrated as follows:(ⅰ) Cu_2 O is the major ORR active site by the redox of Cu(Ⅱ)/Cu(Ⅰ),which provides excellent ORR activities;(ⅱ) Cu can stabilize the location of Cu_2 O by assisting the electron transfer to Cu(Ⅱ)/Cu(Ⅰ) redox,which is conducive to the high stability of the catalyst.This work provides a useful strategy for enhancing the ORR performance of Cu-based catalysts.     

Synthesis of dual-doped non-precious metal electrocatalysts and their electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction

The pyrolyzed carbon supported ferrum polypyrrole(Fe-N/C) catalysts are synthesized with or without selected dopants, p-toluenesulfonic acid(TsOH), by a facile thermal annealing approach at desired temperature for optimizing their activity for the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) in O2-saturated 0.1 mol/L KOH solution. The electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry(CV) and rotating disk electrode(RDE) are employed with the Koutecky-Levich theory to quantitatively obtain the ORR kinetic constants and the reaction mechanisms. It is found that catalysts doped with TsOH show significantly improved ORR activity relative to the TsOH-free one. The average electron transfer numbers for the catalyzed ORR are determined to be 3.899 and 3.098, respectively, for the catalysts with and without TsOH-doping. The heat-treatment is found to be a necessary step for catalyst activity improvement, and the catalyst pyrolyzed at 600℃ gives the best ORR activity. An onset potential and the potential at the current density of-1.5 mA/cm2 for TsOH-doped catalyst after pyrolysis are 30 mV and 170 mV, which are more positive than those without pyrolized. Furthermore, the catalyst doped with TsOH shows higher tolerance to methanol compared with commercial Pt/C catalyst in 0.1 mol/L KOH. To understand this TsOH doping and pyrolyzed effect, X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscope(SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) are used to characterize these catalysts in terms of their structure and composition. XPS results indicate that the pyrrolic-N groups are the most active sites, a finding that is supported by the correspondence between changes in pyridinic-N content and ORR activity that occur with changing temperature. Sulfur species are also structurally bound to carbon in the forms of C–Sn–C, an additional beneficial factor for the ORR.     

Engineering d-band center of nickel in nickel@nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes array for electrochemical reduction of CO2 to CO and Zn-CO2 batteries

Self-supported transition-metal single-atom catalysts (SACs) facilitate the industrialization of electrochemical CO₂ reduction, but suffer from high structural heterogeneity with limited catalytic selectivity. Here we present a facile and scalable approach for the synthesis of self-supported nickel@nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes grown on carbon nanofiber membrane (Ni@NCNTs/CFM), where the Ni single atoms and nanoparticles (NPs) are anchored on the wall and inside of nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes, respectively. The side effect of Ni NPs was further effectively inhibited by alloying Ni with Cu atoms to alter their d-band center, which is theoretically predicted and experimentally proved. The optimal catalyst Ni₉Cu₁@NCNTs/CFM exhibits an ultrahigh CO Faradic efficiency over 97% at ?0.7 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode. Additionally, this catalyst shows excellent mechanical strength which can be directly used as a self-supporting catalyst for Zn-CO₂ battery with a peak power density of ～0.65 mW/cm² at 2.25 mA/cm² and a long-term stability for 150 cycles. This work opens up a general avenue to facilely prepare self-supported SACs with unitary single-atom site for CO₂ utilization.