skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Preparation of Nonprecious Metal Electrocatalysts for the Reduction of Oxygen Using a Low-Temperature Sacrificial Metal

Journal Article · · Journal of the American Chemical Society
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b11061· OSTI ID:1632829

Non-platinum group metal (non-PGM) electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are generally composed of iron, nitrogen, and carbon synthesized through high-temperature pyrolysis. Among the various types of precursors, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF)-8 in particular, have often been used in the synthesis. The pyrolysis of ZIF-8 precursor relies on the use of Zn as a sacrificial metal (SM), and the optimal processing temperatures often exceed 1000 degrees C to generate active non-PGM catalysts. The high pyrolysis temperature tends to result in heterogeneous active moieties ranging from Fe single atoms to nanoparticles. In this study, we present the synthesis of non-PGM catalysts using Cd as the sacrificial metal instead of Zn. By using Cd, we were able to generate active non-PGM electrocatalysts from the MOF precursors at a low pyrolysis temperature of 750 degrees C, which helps preserve the single atomic iron active sites.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1632829
Journal Information:
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 142, Issue 12; ISSN 0002-7863
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 75 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (56)

Electrocatalyst approaches and challenges for automotive fuel cells journal June 2012
The Priority and Challenge of High-Power Performance of Low-Platinum Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells journal March 2016
Catalysts by Platonic design journal July 2015
Platinum-Based Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts journal April 2013
Ultralow-loading platinum-cobalt fuel cell catalysts derived from imidazolate frameworks journal November 2018
Platinum-based nanocages with subnanometer-thick walls and well-defined, controllable facets journal July 2015
Designer platinum nanoparticles: Control of shape, composition in alloy, nanostructure and electrocatalytic property journal April 2009
Atomically Dispersed Metal Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction journal June 2019
Current challenge and perspective of PGM-free cathode catalysts for PEM fuel cells journal June 2017
Iron-based cathode catalyst with enhanced power density in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells journal August 2011
Advancements in rationally designed PGM-free fuel cell catalysts derived from metal–organic frameworks journal January 2017
Recent Advances in Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction journal February 2016
Nonprecious Metal Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction in Heterogeneous Aqueous Systems journal December 2017
Revealing the Role of the Metal in Non-Precious-Metal Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction via Selective Removal of Fe journal March 2018
Design of N-Coordinated Dual-Metal Sites: A Stable and Active Pt-Free Catalyst for Acidic Oxygen Reduction Reaction journal November 2017
Improved ethanol electrooxidation performance by shortening Pd–Ni active site distance in Pd–Ni–P nanocatalysts journal April 2017
High-Performance Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Derived from Polyaniline, Iron, and Cobalt journal April 2011
Engineering nanostructures of PGM-free oxygen-reduction catalysts using metal-organic frameworks journal January 2017
Identification of carbon-encapsulated iron nanoparticles as active species in non-precious metal oxygen reduction catalysts journal August 2016
Hollow Spheres of Iron Carbide Nanoparticles Encased in Graphitic Layers as Oxygen Reduction Catalysts journal February 2014
Iron Carbide Nanoparticles Encapsulated in Mesoporous Fe-N-Doped Carbon Nanofibers for Efficient Electrocatalysis journal May 2015
Understanding the High Activity of Fe–N–C Electrocatalysts in Oxygen Reduction: Fe/Fe 3 C Nanoparticles Boost the Activity of Fe–N x journal March 2016
Identification of catalytic sites in cobalt-nitrogen-carbon materials for the oxygen reduction reaction journal October 2017
Heat-Treated Fe/N/C Catalysts for O2 Electroreduction:  Are Active Sites Hosted in Micropores? journal March 2006
Structure of the catalytic sites in Fe/N/C-catalysts for O2-reduction in PEM fuel cells journal January 2012
Identification of catalytic sites for oxygen reduction in iron- and nitrogen-doped graphene materials journal August 2015
Probing active sites in iron-based catalysts for oxygen electro-reduction: A temperature-dependent 57 Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy study journal March 2016
Cobalt Imidazolate Framework as Precursor for Oxygen Reduction Reaction Electrocatalysts journal January 2011
Directly converting Fe-doped metal–organic frameworks into highly active and stable Fe-N-C catalysts for oxygen reduction in acid journal July 2016
Directed Growth of Metal-Organic Frameworks and Their Derived Carbon-Based Network for Efficient Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction journal January 2016
An efficient Co–N–C oxygen reduction catalyst with highly dispersed Co sites derived from a ZnCo bimetallic zeolitic imidazolate framework journal January 2016
Metal-Organic-Framework-Derived Dual Metal- and Nitrogen-Doped Carbon as Efficient and Robust Oxygen Reduction Reaction Catalysts for Microbial Fuel Cells journal December 2015
Carbon-based electrocatalyst derived from bimetallic metal-organic framework arrays for high performance oxygen reduction journal July 2016
Structural Descriptors of Zeolitic–Imidazolate Frameworks Are Keys to the Activity of Fe–N–C Catalysts journal December 2016
Metal organic frameworks derived single atom catalysts for electrocatalytic energy conversion journal March 2019
Hard-Magnet L10-CoPt Nanoparticles Advance Fuel Cell Catalysis journal January 2019
Porous Nitrogen Rich Cadmium-Tetrazolate Based Metal Organic Framework (MOF) for H 2 and CO 2 Uptake journal December 2011
The Chemistry and Applications of Metal-Organic Frameworks journal August 2013
Metal-Organic Framework-Based Nanomaterials for Electrocatalysis journal May 2016
Three-dimensional cobalt(II) and cadmium(II) MOFs containing 1,4-naphthalenedicarboxylate: Catalytic activity of Cd-MOF journal February 2016
Solvent-Induced Cadmium(II) Metal-Organic Frameworks with Adjustable Guest-Evacuated Porosity: Application in the Controllable Assembly of MOF-Derived Porous Carbon Materials for Supercapacitors journal September 2017
Single Atomic Iron Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction in Acidic Media: Particle Size Control and Thermal Activation journal September 2017
Networking Pyrolyzed Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks by Carbon Nanotubes Improves Conductivity and Enhances Oxygen-Reduction Performance in Polymer-Electrolyte-Membrane Fuel Cells journal November 2016
Single Cobalt Atoms with Precise N-Coordination as Superior Oxygen Reduction Reaction Catalysts journal August 2016
Single-Atom Catalysts: Synthetic Strategies and Electrochemical Applications journal July 2018
The Solid-Phase Synthesis of an Fe-N-C Electrocatalyst for High-Power Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells journal January 2018
Fe–N–C electrocatalyst with dense active sites and efficient mass transport for high-performance proton exchange membrane fuel cells journal March 2019
High-performance fuel cell cathodes exclusively containing atomically dispersed iron active sites journal January 2019
Fe–N–C Catalyst Graphitic Layer Structure and Fuel Cell Performance journal June 2017
Direct atomic-level insight into the active sites of a high-performance PGM-free ORR catalyst journal August 2017
Fe–N–C Catalysts: Progress in the Development of Fe‐Based PGM‐Free Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction (Adv. Mater. 31/2019) journal December 2018
Evolution of nitrogen functionalities in carbonaceous materials during pyrolysis journal January 1995
Nitrogen-doped magnetic onion-like carbon as support for Pt particles in a hybrid cathode catalyst for fuel cells journal January 2010
Ambient Electrosynthesis of Ammonia: Electrode Porosity and Composition Engineering journal July 2018
Titanium dioxide-supported non-precious metal oxygen reduction electrocatalyst journal January 2010
Active sites of nitrogen-doped carbon materials for oxygen reduction reaction clarified using model catalysts journal January 2016