Understanding the Activity of Co-N4-x Cx in Atomic Metal Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Catalysis

Qin Yang; Yi Jia; Fenfei Wei; Linzhou Zhuang; Dongjiang Yang; Jizi Liu; Xin Wang; Sen Lin; Pei Yuan; Xiangdong Yao

doi:10.1002/anie.202000324

Understanding the Activity of Co-N_4-x C_x in Atomic Metal Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Catalysis

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2020 Apr 6;59(15):6122-6127. doi: 10.1002/anie.202000324. Epub 2020 Feb 12.

Authors

Qin Yang^{1

2}, Yi Jia², Fenfei Wei³, Linzhou Zhuang⁴, Dongjiang Yang⁵, Jizi Liu⁶, Xin Wang², Sen Lin³, Pei Yuan¹, Xiangdong Yao^{2

7}

Affiliations

¹ National Engineering Research Center of Chemical Fertilizer Catalyst, College of Chemical Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350002, P. R. China.
² School of Environment and Science, Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Queensland, 4111, Australia.
³ State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350002, P. R. China.
⁴ School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Queensland, 4111, Australia.
⁵ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266071, P. R. China.
⁶ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Jiangsu, 210094, P. R. China.
⁷ College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China.

PMID: 31960551
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202000324

Abstract

Atomic metal catalysis (AMC) provides an effective way to enhance activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Cobalt anchored on nitrogen-doped carbon materials have been extensively reported. The carbon-hosted Co-N₄ structure was widely considered as the active site; however, it is very rare to investigate the activity of Co partially coordinated with N, for example, Co-N_4-x C_x . Herein, the activity of Co-N_4-x C_x with tunable coordination environment is investigated as the active sites for ORR catalysis. The defect (di-vacancies) on carbon is essential for the formation of Co-N_4-x C_x . N species play two important roles in promoting the intrinsic activity of atomic metal catalyst: N coordinated with Co to manipulate the reactivity by modification of electronic distribution and N helped to trap more Co to increase the number of active sites.

Keywords: N species; active sites; cobalt; defects; oxygen reduction reaction.

Abstract

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