Oxygen reduction reaction on neighboring Fe-N4 and quaternary-N sites of pyrolized Fe/N/C catalyst

Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2015 Feb 7;17(5):3059-71. doi: 10.1039/c4cp04811c. Epub 2014 Dec 16.

Abstract

We study the interaction between the TM-Nx and metal-free active sites of a pyrolized TM/N/C catalyst and its effect on their ORR activities. We particularly choose a Fe-N4-edge-graphene and a quaternary-N-doped zigzag edge as representatives of TM-Nx and the metal-free active sites, respectively. We find that the interaction of the Fe-N4 and quaternary-N-doped sites at the zigzag edge of graphene enhances the ORR free energy profile at the quaternary-N-doped site. However, the ORR free energy profile at the Fe-N4 site is not affected by this interaction.