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Title: Tailoring FeN 4 Sites with Edge Enrichment for Boosted Oxygen Reduction Performance in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

Journal Article · · Advanced Energy Materials
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [3];  [3];  [3]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [3];  [3]; ORCiD logo [3]
  1. Henan Normal Univ., Xinxiang (China). Key Lab. of Green Chemical Media and Reaction; Univ. of Waterloo, ON (Canada)
  2. Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  3. Univ. of Waterloo, ON (Canada)
  4. Henan Normal Univ., Xinxiang (China). Key Lab. of Green Chemical Media and Reaction
+ Show Author Affiliations

Abstract Transition metal atoms with corresponding nitrogen coordination are widely proposed as catalytic centers for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in metal–nitrogen–carbon (M–N–C) catalysts. Here, an effective strategy that can tailor Fe–N–C catalysts to simultaneously enrich the number of active sites while boosting their intrinsic activity and utilization is reported. This is achieved by edge engineering of FeN 4 sites via a simple ammonium chloride salt‐assisted approach, where a high fraction of FeN 4 sites are preferentially generated and hosted in a graphene‐like porous scaffold. Theoretical calculations reveal that the FeN 4 moieties with adjacent pore defects are likely to be more active than the nondefective configuration. Coupled with the facilitated accessibility of active sites, this prepared catalyst, when applied in a practical H 2 –air proton exchange membrane fuel cell, delivers a remarkable peak power density of 0.43 W cm −2 , ranking it as one of the most active M–N–C catalysts reported to date. This work provides a new avenue for boosting ORR activity by edge manipulation of FeN 4 sites.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1507104
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1492460
Report Number(s):
BNL-211552-2019-JAAM
Journal Information:
Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 9, Issue 11; ISSN 1614-6832
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 168 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (6)

A ZIF-derived hierarchically porous Fe–Zn–N–C catalyst synthesized via a two-stage pyrolysis for the highly efficient oxygen reduction reaction in both acidic and alkaline media journal January 2019
Tunable and convenient synthesis of highly dispersed Fe–N x catalysts from graphene-supported Zn–Fe-ZIF for efficient oxygen reduction in acidic media journal January 2019
Engineering Local Coordination Environments of Atomically Dispersed and Heteroatom‐Coordinated Single Metal Site Electrocatalysts for Clean Energy‐Conversion journal November 2019
Boosting the performance of the Fe–N–C catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction by introducing single-walled carbon nanohorns as branches on carbon fibers journal January 2019
Synergistic catalysis on Fe–N x sites and Fe nanoparticles for efficient synthesis of quinolines and quinazolinones via oxidative coupling of amines and aldehydes journal January 2019
Single iron atoms stabilized by microporous defects of biomass-derived carbon aerogels as high-performance cathode electrocatalysts for aluminum–air batteries journal January 2019

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Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
M-N-C catalysts
FeN4 sites
oxygen reduction reaction
edge engineering
fuel cells