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Bates JS, Martinez JJ, Hall MN, Al-Omari AA, Murphy E, Zeng Y, Luo F, Primbs M, Menga D, Bibent N, Sougrati MT, Wagner FE, Atanassov P, Wu G, Strasser P, Fellinger TP, Jaouen F, Root TW, Stahl SS. Chemical Kinetic Method for Active-Site Quantification in Fe-N-C Catalysts and Correlation with Molecular Probe and Spectroscopic Site-Counting Methods. J Am Chem Soc 2023; 145:26222-26237. [PMID: 37983387 PMCID: PMC10782517 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c08790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
Mononuclear Fe ions ligated by nitrogen (FeNx) dispersed on nitrogen-doped carbon (Fe-N-C) serve as active centers for electrocatalytic O2 reduction and thermocatalytic aerobic oxidations. Despite their promise as replacements for precious metals in a variety of practical applications, such as fuel cells, the discovery of new Fe-N-C catalysts has relied primarily on empirical approaches. In this context, the development of quantitative structure-reactivity relationships and benchmarking of catalysts prepared by different synthetic routes and by different laboratories would be facilitated by the broader adoption of methods to quantify atomically dispersed FeNx active centers. In this study, we develop a kinetic probe reaction method that uses the aerobic oxidation of a model hydroquinone substrate to quantify the density of FeNx centers in Fe-N-C catalysts. The kinetic method is compared with low-temperature Mössbauer spectroscopy, CO pulse chemisorption, and electrochemical reductive stripping of NO derived from NO2- on a suite of Fe-N-C catalysts prepared by diverse routes and featuring either the exclusive presence of Fe as FeNx sites or the coexistence of aggregated Fe species in addition to FeNx. The FeNx site densities derived from the kinetic method correlate well with those obtained from CO pulse chemisorption and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The broad survey of Fe-N-C materials also reveals the presence of outliers and challenges associated with each site quantification approach. The kinetic method developed here does not require pretreatments that may alter active-site distributions or specialized equipment beyond reaction vessels and standard analytical instrumentation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason S. Bates
- Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
| | - Jesse J. Martinez
- Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
| | - Melissa N. Hall
- Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
| | - Abdulhadi A. Al-Omari
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
| | - Eamonn Murphy
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National Fuel Cell Research Center, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA
| | - Yachao Zeng
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
| | - Fang Luo
- The Electrochemical Catalysis, Energy and Materials Science Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Technical University Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany
| | - Mathias Primbs
- The Electrochemical Catalysis, Energy and Materials Science Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Technical University Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany
| | - Davide Menga
- Chair of Technical Electrochemistry, Department of Chemistry and Catalysis Research Center, Technische Universität München (TUM), 85748 Garching, Germany
| | - Nicolas Bibent
- ICGM, Univ. Montpellier, CNRS, ENSCM, 34293 Montpellier, France
| | | | - Friedrich E. Wagner
- Department of Physics, Technische Universität München (TUM), 85748 Garching, Germany
| | - Plamen Atanassov
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National Fuel Cell Research Center, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA
| | - Gang Wu
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
| | - Peter Strasser
- The Electrochemical Catalysis, Energy and Materials Science Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Technical University Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany
| | - Tim-Patrick Fellinger
- Chair of Technical Electrochemistry, Department of Chemistry and Catalysis Research Center, Technische Universität München (TUM), 85748 Garching, Germany
- Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), 12203 Berlin, Germany
| | - Frédéric Jaouen
- ICGM, Univ. Montpellier, CNRS, ENSCM, 34293 Montpellier, France
| | - Thatcher W. Root
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
| | - Shannon S. Stahl
- Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
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Zou M, Yang J, Yue X, Yuan Y, Che Z, Li M, Li B, Cui J, Hu W, Wang S, Jiang J, Jia C. Design of Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction Catalysts with Single Transition Metal Atom on N-Doped Graphdiyne. J Phys Chem Lett 2023; 14:9624-9632. [PMID: 37870322 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c02649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2023]
Abstract
The revelation of the underlying structure-property relationship of single-atom catalysts (SACs) is a fundamental issue in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Here we present systematic theoretical and experimental investigations of various N-doped graphdiyne (NGDY) supported transition metals (TMs) to shed light on this relationship. Calculation results indicate that the TMs' comprehensive activities follow the order of Pd@NGDY > Ni@NGDY > Co@NGDY > Fe@NGDY, which fits well with our experimental conclusion. Moreover, detailed structure-property relationship (194 in total) analysis suggests that the key-species binding stability (ΔG*OH), the d-orbital center (εd/εd-a) and charge transfer (ΔQTM/ΔQTM-a) of the active metal before/after reactants adsorption and the bond length of TM-O (LTM-O) as descriptors can well reflect the intermediate binding stability or ORR activity on different TM-SACs. Specifically, the change trend of catalytic activity is opposite to that of intermediate binding stability, meaning that too strongly bonded *OOH, *O, and *OH intermediates are unfavorable for ORR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Zou
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Science), Jinan, Shandong 250353, China
- Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory of Computational Nano-Material Science, Institute of Applied Physics, Guizhou Education University, Guiyang, Guizhou 550018, China
| | - Jing Yang
- Shijiazhuang Key Laboratory of Low Carbon Energy Materials, College of Chemical Engineering, Shijiazhuang University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050035, China
| | - Xiaolong Yue
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Science), Jinan, Shandong 250353, China
| | - Yanan Yuan
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Science), Jinan, Shandong 250353, China
| | - Zhongmei Che
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Science), Jinan, Shandong 250353, China
| | - Mei Li
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Science), Jinan, Shandong 250353, China
| | - Bo Li
- Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory of Computational Nano-Material Science, Institute of Applied Physics, Guizhou Education University, Guiyang, Guizhou 550018, China
| | - Jiaxi Cui
- Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China
| | - Wei Hu
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Science), Jinan, Shandong 250353, China
| | - Shuai Wang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Science), Jinan, Shandong 250353, China
| | - Jun Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Precision and Intelligent Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
| | - Chuanyi Jia
- Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory of Computational Nano-Material Science, Institute of Applied Physics, Guizhou Education University, Guiyang, Guizhou 550018, China
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Cho J, Lim T, Kim H, Meng L, Kim J, Lee S, Lee JH, Jung GY, Lee KS, Viñes F, Illas F, Exner KS, Joo SH, Choi CH. Importance of broken geometric symmetry of single-atom Pt sites for efficient electrocatalysis. Nat Commun 2023; 14:3233. [PMID: 37270530 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38964-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2023] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Platinum single-atom catalysts hold promise as a new frontier in heterogeneous electrocatalysis. However, the exact chemical nature of active Pt sites is highly elusive, arousing many hypotheses to compensate for the significant discrepancies between experiments and theories. Here, we identify the stabilization of low-coordinated PtII species on carbon-based Pt single-atom catalysts, which have rarely been found as reaction intermediates of homogeneous PtII catalysts but have often been proposed as catalytic sites for Pt single-atom catalysts from theory. Advanced online spectroscopic studies reveal multiple identities of PtII moieties on the single-atom catalysts beyond ideally four-coordinated PtII-N4. Notably, decreasing Pt content to 0.15 wt.% enables the differentiation of low-coordinated PtII species from the four-coordinated ones, demonstrating their critical role in the chlorine evolution reaction. This study may afford general guidelines for achieving a high electrocatalytic performance of carbon-based single-atom catalysts based on other d8 metal ions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junsic Cho
- Department of Chemistry, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, 37673, Republic of Korea
| | - Taejung Lim
- Department of Chemistry, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan, 44919, Republic of Korea
| | - Haesol Kim
- Department of Chemistry, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, 37673, Republic of Korea
| | - Ling Meng
- Departament de Ciència de Materials i Quı́mica Fı́sica & Institut de Quı́mica Teòrica i Computacional (IQTCUB), Universitat de Barcelona, c/ Martí i Franquès 1-11, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jinjong Kim
- Department of Chemistry, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan, 44919, Republic of Korea
- Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea
| | - Seunghoon Lee
- Department of Chemistry, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, 37673, Republic of Korea
| | - Jong Hoon Lee
- UNIST Central Research Facilities (UCRF), Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan, 44919, Republic of Korea
| | - Gwan Yeong Jung
- School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan, 44919, Republic of Korea
| | - Kug-Seung Lee
- Beamline Department, Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, 37673, Republic of Korea
| | - Francesc Viñes
- Departament de Ciència de Materials i Quı́mica Fı́sica & Institut de Quı́mica Teòrica i Computacional (IQTCUB), Universitat de Barcelona, c/ Martí i Franquès 1-11, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Francesc Illas
- Departament de Ciència de Materials i Quı́mica Fı́sica & Institut de Quı́mica Teòrica i Computacional (IQTCUB), Universitat de Barcelona, c/ Martí i Franquès 1-11, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Kai S Exner
- Faculty of Chemistry, Theoretical Inorganic Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45141 Essen, Germany; Cluster of Excellence RESOLV, 44801 Bochum, Germany; Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CENIDE), 47057, Duisburg, Germany.
| | - Sang Hoon Joo
- Department of Chemistry, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan, 44919, Republic of Korea.
- Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea.
| | - Chang Hyuck Choi
- Department of Chemistry, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, 37673, Republic of Korea.
- Institute for Convergence Research and Education in Advanced Technology (I-CREATE), Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea.
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Barrio J, Pedersen A, Sarma SC, Bagger A, Gong M, Favero S, Zhao CX, Garcia-Serres R, Li AY, Zhang Q, Jaouen F, Maillard F, Kucernak A, Stephens IEL, Titirici MM. FeNC Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalyst with High Utilization Penta-Coordinated Sites. ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2023; 35:e2211022. [PMID: 36739474 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202211022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Revised: 01/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Atomic Fe in N-doped carbon (FeNC) electrocatalysts for oxygen (O2 ) reduction at the cathode of proton exchange membrane fuel cells are the most promising alternative to platinum-group-metal catalysts. Despite recent progress on atomic FeNC O2 reduction, their controlled synthesis and stability for practical applications remain challenging. A two-step synthesis approach has recently led to significant advances in terms of Fe-loading and mass activity; however, the Fe utilization remains low owing to the difficulty of building scaffolds with sufficient porosity that electrochemically exposes the active sites. Herein, this issue is addressed by coordinating Fe in a highly porous nitrogen-doped carbon support (≈3295 m2 g-1 ), prepared by pyrolysis of inexpensive 2,4,6-triaminopyrimidine and a Mg2+ salt active site template and porogen. Upon Fe coordination, a high electrochemical active site density of 2.54 × 1019 sites gFeNC -1 and a record 52% FeNx electrochemical utilization based on in situ nitrite stripping are achieved. The Fe single atoms are characterized pre- and post-electrochemical accelerated stress testing by aberration-corrected high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy, showing no Fe clustering. Moreover, ex situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy and low-temperature Mössbauer spectroscopy suggest the presence of penta-coordinated Fe sites, which are further studied by density functional theory calculations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesús Barrio
- Department of Materials, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Angus Pedersen
- Department of Materials, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Saurav Ch Sarma
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Alexander Bagger
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Mengjun Gong
- Department of Chemistry, Molecular Sciences Research Hub, Imperial College London, White City Campus, London, W12 0BZ, UK
| | - Silvia Favero
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Chang-Xin Zhao
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, 1 Tsinghua Road, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China
| | - Ricardo Garcia-Serres
- Chemistry and Biology of Metals Laboratory, CNRS, CEA, IRIG, University Grenoble Alpes, 17 Rue Des Martyrs, Grenoble, 38000, France
| | - Alain Y Li
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Qiang Zhang
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, 1 Tsinghua Road, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China
| | - Frédéric Jaouen
- Institute of Molecular Chemistry and Materials Sciences, CNRS, ENSCM, University of Montpellier, 1919 route de Mende, Montpellier, 34293, France
| | - Frédéric Maillard
- Laboratory of Electrochemistry and Physico-Chemistry of Materials and Interfaces (LEPMI), CNRS, University Savoie Mont-Blanc, Grenoble-INP, University Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, 38000, France
| | - Anthony Kucernak
- Department of Chemistry, Molecular Sciences Research Hub, Imperial College London, White City Campus, London, W12 0BZ, UK
| | - Ifan E L Stephens
- Department of Materials, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Maria-Magdalena Titirici
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
- Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR), Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aobaku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8577, Japan
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5
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Tang X, Wei Y, Zhai W, Wu Y, Hu T, Yuan K, Chen Y. Carbon Nanocage with Maximum Utilization of Atomically Dispersed Iron as Efficient Oxygen Electroreduction Nanoreactor. ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2023; 35:e2208942. [PMID: 36349885 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202208942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2022] [Revised: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
As key parameters of electrocatalysts, the density and utilization of active sites determine the electrocatalytic performance toward oxygen reduction reaction. Unfortunately, prevalent oxygen electrocatalysts fail to maximize the utilization of active sites due to inappropriate nanostructural design. Herein, a nano-emulsion induced polymerization self-assembly strategy is employed to prepare hierarchical meso-/microporous N/S co-doped carbon nanocage with atomically dispersed FeN4 (denoted as Meso/Micro-FeNSC). In situ scanning electrochemical microscopy technology reveals the density of available active sites for Meso/Micro-FeNSC reach to 3.57 × 1014 sites cm-2 , representing more than threefold improvement compared to micropore-dominant Micro-FeNSC counterpart (1.07 × 1014 sites cm-2 ). Additionally, the turnover frequency of Meso/Micro-FeNSC is also improved to 0.69 from 0.50 e- site-1 s-1 for Micro-FeNSC. These properties motivate Meso/Micro-FeNSC as efficient oxygen electroreduction electrocatalyst, in terms of outstanding half-wave potential (0.91 V), remarkable kinetic mass specific activity (68.65 A g-1 ), and excellent robustness. The assembled Zn-air batteries with Meso/Micro-FeNSC deliver high peak power density (264.34 mW cm-2 ), large specific capacity (814.09 mA h g-1 ), and long cycle life (>200 h). This work sheds lights on quantifying active site density and the significance of maximum utilization of active sites for rational design of advanced catalysts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiannong Tang
- College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China
| | - Yuanhao Wei
- College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China
| | - Weijuan Zhai
- College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China
| | - Yonggan Wu
- College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China
| | - Ting Hu
- College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China
- School of Physics and Materials Science, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China
| | - Kai Yuan
- College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China
| | - Yiwang Chen
- College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China
- National Engineering Research Center for Carbohydrate Synthesis/Key Lab of Fluorine and Silicon for Energy Materials and Chemistry of Ministry of Education, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, China
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