Combining scaling relationships overcomes rate versus overpotential trade-offs in O 2 molecular electrocatalysis
Abstract
The development of advanced chemical-to-electrical energy conversions requires fast and efficient electrocatalysis of multielectron/multiproton reactions, such as the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Using molecular catalysts, correlations between the reaction rate and energy efficiency have recently been identified. Improved catalysis requires circumventing the rate versus overpotential trade-offs implied by such “scaling relationships.” Described here is an ORR system—using a soluble iron porphyrin and weak acids—with the best reported combination of rate and efficiency for a soluble ORR catalyst. This advance is achieved not by “breaking” scaling relationships but rather by combining two of them. Key to this behavior is a polycationic ligand, which enhances anionic ligand binding and changes the catalyst E1/2. These results show how combining scaling relationships is a powerful way toward improved electrocatalysis.
- Authors:
-
- Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis (CME); Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1626058
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FG02-00ER41132
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Science Advances
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 6; Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 2375-2548
- Publisher:
- AAAS
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Science & Technology - Other Topics
Citation Formats
Martin, Daniel J., Mercado, Brandon Q., and Mayer, James M. Combining scaling relationships overcomes rate versus overpotential trade-offs in O 2 molecular electrocatalysis. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaz3318.
Martin, Daniel J., Mercado, Brandon Q., & Mayer, James M. Combining scaling relationships overcomes rate versus overpotential trade-offs in O 2 molecular electrocatalysis. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz3318
Martin, Daniel J., Mercado, Brandon Q., and Mayer, James M. Fri .
"Combining scaling relationships overcomes rate versus overpotential trade-offs in O 2 molecular electrocatalysis". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz3318. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1626058.
@article{osti_1626058,
title = {Combining scaling relationships overcomes rate versus overpotential trade-offs in O 2 molecular electrocatalysis},
author = {Martin, Daniel J. and Mercado, Brandon Q. and Mayer, James M.},
abstractNote = {The development of advanced chemical-to-electrical energy conversions requires fast and efficient electrocatalysis of multielectron/multiproton reactions, such as the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Using molecular catalysts, correlations between the reaction rate and energy efficiency have recently been identified. Improved catalysis requires circumventing the rate versus overpotential trade-offs implied by such “scaling relationships.” Described here is an ORR system—using a soluble iron porphyrin and weak acids—with the best reported combination of rate and efficiency for a soluble ORR catalyst. This advance is achieved not by “breaking” scaling relationships but rather by combining two of them. Key to this behavior is a polycationic ligand, which enhances anionic ligand binding and changes the catalyst E1/2. These results show how combining scaling relationships is a powerful way toward improved electrocatalysis.},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aaz3318},
journal = {Science Advances},
number = 11,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {2020},
month = {3}
}
Figures / Tables:

Works referenced in this record:
Brønsted Acid Scaling Relationships Enable Control Over Product Selectivity from O 2 Reduction with a Mononuclear Cobalt Porphyrin Catalyst
journal, June 2019
- Wang, Yu-Heng; Schneider, Patrick E.; Goldsmith, Zachary K.
- ACS Central Science, Vol. 5, Issue 6
New protic salts of aprotic polar solvents
journal, April 2004
- Favier, Isabelle; Duñach, Elisabet
- Tetrahedron Letters, Vol. 45, Issue 17
Identifying and Breaking Scaling Relations in Molecular Catalysis of Electrochemical Reactions
journal, August 2017
- Pegis, Michael L.; Wise, Catherine F.; Koronkiewicz, Brian
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 139, Issue 32
A short history of SHELX
journal, December 2007
- Sheldrick, George M.
- Acta Crystallographica Section A Foundations of Crystallography, Vol. 64, Issue 1, p. 112-122
Oxygen Reduction by Homogeneous Molecular Catalysts and Electrocatalysts
journal, December 2017
- Pegis, Michael L.; Wise, Catherine F.; Martin, Daniel J.
- Chemical Reviews, Vol. 118, Issue 5
Determining the Overpotential for a Molecular Electrocatalyst
journal, December 2013
- Appel, Aaron M.; Helm, Monte L.
- ACS Catalysis, Vol. 4, Issue 2
Understanding Catalytic Activity Trends in the Oxygen Reduction Reaction
journal, December 2017
- Kulkarni, Ambarish; Siahrostami, Samira; Patel, Anjli
- Chemical Reviews, Vol. 118, Issue 5
Molecular Cobalt Catalysts for O 2 Reduction: Low-Overpotential Production of H 2 O 2 and Comparison with Iron-Based Catalysts
journal, November 2017
- Wang, Yu-Heng; Pegis, Michael L.; Mayer, James M.
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 139, Issue 46
Electrochemical Reduction of Brønsted Acids by Glassy Carbon in Acetonitrile—Implications for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution
journal, July 2014
- McCarthy, Brian D.; Martin, Daniel J.; Rountree, Eric S.
- Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 53, Issue 16
Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction by Iron Tetra-arylporphyrins Bearing Pendant Proton Relays
journal, March 2012
- Carver, Colin T.; Matson, Benjamin D.; Mayer, James M.
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 134, Issue 12
High Catalytic Rates for Hydrogen Production Using Nickel Electrocatalysts with Seven-Membered Cyclic Diphosphine Ligands Containing One Pendant Amine
journal, February 2013
- Stewart, Michael P.; Ho, Ming-Hsun; Wiese, Stefan
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 135, Issue 16
A Synthetic Nickel Electrocatalyst with a Turnover Frequency Above 100,000 s-1 for H2 Production
journal, August 2011
- Helm, M. L.; Stewart, M. P.; Bullock, R. M.
- Science, Vol. 333, Issue 6044, p. 863-866
Benchmarking of Homogeneous Electrocatalysts: Overpotential, Turnover Frequency, Limiting Turnover Number
journal, April 2015
- Costentin, Cyrille; Passard, Guillaume; Savéant, Jean-Michel
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 137, Issue 16
Through-Space Charge Interaction Substituent Effects in Molecular Catalysis Leading to the Design of the Most Efficient Catalyst of CO 2 -to-CO Electrochemical Conversion
journal, December 2016
- Azcarate, Iban; Costentin, Cyrille; Robert, Marc
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 138, Issue 51
Homogeneous, Heterogeneous, and Biological Catalysts for Electrochemical N 2 Reduction toward NH 3 under Ambient Conditions
journal, April 2019
- Liu, Huimin; Wei, Li; Liu, Fei
- ACS Catalysis, Vol. 9, Issue 6
Understanding the apparent fractional charge of protons in the aqueous electrochemical double layer
journal, August 2018
- Chen, Leanne D.; Bajdich, Michal; Martirez, J. Mark P.
- Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1
Titration of bases in acetonitrile
journal, November 1967
- Kolthoff, Izaak M.; Chantooni, Miran K.; Bhowmik, Sadhana.
- Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 39, Issue 13
Decoding Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer with Potential–p K a Diagrams
journal, January 2017
- McCarthy, Brian D.; Dempsey, Jillian L.
- Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 56, Issue 3
Electrodeposition from Acidic Solutions of Nickel Bis(benzenedithiolate) Produces a Hydrogen-Evolving Ni–S Film on Glassy Carbon
journal, December 2013
- Fang, Ming; Engelhard, Mark H.; Zhu, Zihua
- ACS Catalysis, Vol. 4, Issue 1
Oxygen Reduction Catalysis at a Dicobalt Center: The Relationship of Faradaic Efficiency to Overpotential
journal, February 2016
- Passard, Guillaume; Ullman, Andrew M.; Brodsky, Casey N.
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 138, Issue 9
A Comprehensive Self-Consistent Spectrophotometric Acidity Scale of Neutral Brønsted Acids in Acetonitrile
journal, March 2006
- Kütt, Agnes; Leito, Ivo; Kaljurand, Ivari
- The Journal of Organic Chemistry, Vol. 71, Issue 7
H 2 Evolution and Molecular Electrocatalysts: Determination of Overpotentials and Effect of Homoconjugation
journal, November 2010
- Fourmond, Vincent; Jacques, Pierre-André; Fontecave, Marc
- Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 49, Issue 22
Toward the rational benchmarking of homogeneous H 2 -evolving catalysts
journal, January 2014
- Artero, Vincent; Saveant, Jean-Michel
- Energy Environ. Sci., Vol. 7, Issue 11
Direct Determination of Equilibrium Potentials for Hydrogen Oxidation/Production by Open Circuit Potential Measurements in Acetonitrile
journal, June 2012
- Roberts, John A. S.; Bullock, R. Morris
- Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 52, Issue 7
Multielectron, Multistep Molecular Catalysis of Electrochemical Reactions: Benchmarking of Homogeneous Catalysts
journal, June 2014
- Costentin, Cyrille; Savéant, Jean-Michel
- ChemElectroChem, Vol. 1, Issue 7
Reversing the Tradeoff between Rate and Overpotential in Molecular Electrocatalysts for H 2 Production
journal, March 2018
- Klug, Christina M.; Cardenas, Allan Jay P.; Bullock, R. Morris
- ACS Catalysis, Vol. 8, Issue 4
Homogeneous Molecular Catalysis of Electrochemical Reactions: Manipulating Intrinsic and Operational Factors for Catalyst Improvement
journal, November 2018
- Costentin, Cyrille; Savéant, Jean-Michel
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 140, Issue 48
Standard Reduction Potentials for Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide Couples in Acetonitrile and N , N -Dimethylformamide
journal, December 2015
- Pegis, Michael L.; Roberts, John A. S.; Wasylenko, Derek J.
- Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 54, Issue 24
Supramolecular assemblies of carbon nanocoils and tetraphenylporphyrin derivatives for sensing of catechol and hydroquinone in aqueous solution
journal, March 2021
- Bukhari, Syeda Aqsa Batool; Nasir, Habib; Pan, Lujun
- Scientific Reports, Vol. 11, Issue 1
Nonprecious Metal Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction in Heterogeneous Aqueous Systems
journal, December 2017
- Gewirth, Andrew A.; Varnell, Jason A.; DiAscro, Angela M.
- Chemical Reviews, Vol. 118, Issue 5
Turnover Numbers, Turnover Frequencies, and Overpotential in Molecular Catalysis of Electrochemical Reactions. Cyclic Voltammetry and Preparative-Scale Electrolysis
journal, June 2012
- Costentin, Cyrille; Drouet, Samuel; Robert, Marc
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 134, Issue 27, p. 11235-11242
Introduction: Oxygen Reduction and Activation in Catalysis
journal, December 2017
- Solomon, Edward I.; Stahl, Shannon S.
- Chemical Reviews, Vol. 118, Issue 5
A Practical Beginner’s Guide to Cyclic Voltammetry
journal, November 2017
- Elgrishi, Noémie; Rountree, Kelley J.; McCarthy, Brian D.
- Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 95, Issue 2
Oxygen Reduction Reaction Promoted by Manganese Porphyrins
journal, July 2018
- Passard, Guillaume; Dogutan, Dilek K.; Qiu, Mengting
- ACS Catalysis, Vol. 8, Issue 9
Evaluation of Homogeneous Electrocatalysts by Cyclic Voltammetry
journal, September 2014
- Rountree, Eric S.; McCarthy, Brian D.; Eisenhart, Thomas T.
- Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 53, Issue 19
Dioxygen Reduction to Hydrogen Peroxide by a Molecular Mn Complex: Mechanistic Divergence between Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Reductants
journal, February 2019
- Hooe, Shelby L.; Machan, Charles W.
- Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 141, Issue 10
Homogenous Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction Rates Correlate with Reaction Overpotential in Acidic Organic Solutions
journal, October 2016
- Pegis, Michael L.; McKeown, Bradley A.; Kumar, Neeraj
- ACS Central Science, Vol. 2, Issue 11
Mechanism of Catalytic O 2 Reduction by Iron Tetraphenylporphyrin
journal, May 2019
- Pegis, Michael L.; Martin, Daniel J.; Wise, Catherine F.
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
Solar fuels generation and molecular systems: is it homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysis?
journal, January 2013
- Artero, Vincent; Fontecave, Marc
- Chem. Soc. Rev., Vol. 42, Issue 6
Figures / Tables found in this record: