Precisely manipulated π-π stacking of catalytic exfoliated iron polyphthalocyanine/reduced graphene oxide hybrid via pyrolysis-free path

Rui Hao; Jingjing Chen; Jing Hu; Shuai Gu; Qingmeng Gan; Yingzhi Li; Zhiqiang Wang; Wen Luo; Huimin Yuan; Guiyu Liu; Chunliu Yan; Junjun Zhang; Kaiyu Liu; Chen Liu; Zhouguang Lu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.05.122

Precisely manipulated π-π stacking of catalytic exfoliated iron polyphthalocyanine/reduced graphene oxide hybrid via pyrolysis-free path

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Sep 15:646:900-909. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.05.122. Epub 2023 May 20.

Authors

Rui Hao¹, Jingjing Chen², Jing Hu³, Shuai Gu², Qingmeng Gan², Yingzhi Li², Zhiqiang Wang², Wen Luo², Huimin Yuan², Guiyu Liu², Chunliu Yan², Junjun Zhang², Kaiyu Liu⁴, Chen Liu⁵, Zhouguang Lu⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Interfacial Science and Engineering of Materials, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, PR China; Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Power Sources, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, PR China.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Interfacial Science and Engineering of Materials, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, PR China.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Interfacial Science and Engineering of Materials, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, PR China; Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, PR China.
⁴ Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Power Sources, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, PR China. Electronic address: kaiyuliu309@163.com.
⁵ Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, PR China. Electronic address: liuchen@szu.edu.cn.
⁶ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Interfacial Science and Engineering of Materials, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, PR China. Electronic address: luzg@sustech.edu.cn.

PMID: 37235935
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.05.122

Abstract

Metal macrocycles with well-defined molecular structures are ideal platforms for the in-depth study of electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Structural integrity of metal macrocycles is vital but remain challenging since the commonly used high-temperature pyrolysis would cause severe structure damage and unidentifiable active sites. Herein, we propose a pyrolysis-free strategy to precisely manipulate the exfoliated 2D iron polyphthalocyanine (FePPc) anchored on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) via π-π stacking using facile high-energy ball milling. A delocalized electron shift caused by π-π interaction is firstly found to be the mechanism of facilitating the remarkable ORR activity of this hybrid catalyst. The optimal FePPc@rGO-HE achieves superior half-wave potential (0.90 V) than 20 % Pt/C. This study offers a new insight in designing stable and high-performance metal macrocycle catalysts with well-defined active sites.

Keywords: Fe–N(4) sites; High-energy ball milling; Oxygen reduction reaction; Pyrolysis-free catalyst; π–π interaction.