Xiao Fei, Liu Xiang, Sun Cheng-Jun, Hwang Inhui, Wang Qi, Xu Zhiwen, Wang Yian, Zhu Shangqian, Wu Hsi-Wen, Wei Zidong, Zheng Liping, Cheng Daojian, Gu Meng, Xu Gui-Liang, Amine Khalil, Shao Minhua
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, P.R. China.
Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States.
Nano Lett. 2021 Apr 28;21(8):3633-3639. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c00702. Epub 2021 Apr 19.
Fe-N-C with atomically dispersed Fe single atoms is the most promising candidate to replace platinum for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells. However, the conventional synthesis procedures require quantities solvents and metal precursors, sluggish adsorption process, and tedious washing, resulting in limited metal doping and uneconomical for large-scale production. For the first time, FeO is adopted as the Fe precursor to derive abundant single Fe atoms dispersed on carbon surfaces. The Fe-N-C catalyst synthesized by this simple method shows an excellent ORR activity with half-wave potentials of 0.82 and 0.90 V in acidic and alkaline solutions, respectively. A single fuel cell with an optimized Fe-N-C cathode shows a high peak power density of 0.84 W cm. The solid-state transformation synthesis method developed in this study may shed light on mass production of single-atom-based catalysts.
具有原子级分散铁单原子的Fe-N-C是燃料电池中最有希望替代铂用于氧还原反应（ORR）的候选材料。然而，传统的合成方法需要大量的溶剂和金属前驱体，吸附过程缓慢，洗涤繁琐，导致金属掺杂有限且大规模生产不经济。首次采用FeO作为铁前驱体，以在碳表面衍生出大量分散的单铁原子。通过这种简单方法合成的Fe-N-C催化剂在酸性和碱性溶液中分别具有0.82和0.90 V的半波电位，显示出优异的ORR活性。具有优化Fe-N-C阴极的单燃料电池显示出0.84 W cm的高峰功率密度。本研究开发的固态转化合成方法可能为单原子基催化剂的大规模生产提供启示。
