Nanocasting SiO2 into metal–organic frameworks imparts dual protection to high-loading Fe single-atom electrocatalysts

Jiao, Long; Zhang, Rui; Wan, Gang; Yang, Weijie; Wan, Xin; Zhou, Hua; Shui, Jianglan; Yu, Shu-Hong; Jiang, Hai-Long

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16715-6

Title: Nanocasting SiO₂ into metal–organic frameworks imparts dual protection to high-loading Fe single-atom electrocatalysts

Journal Article · 05 June 2020 · Nature Communications

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16715-6 · OSTI ID:1632832

Jiao, Long ^[1]; Zhang, Rui ^[1]; Wan, Gang ^[2]; Yang, Weijie ^[3];

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Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)
North China Electric Power Univ., Baoding(China)
Beihang Univ. (China)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have sparked broad interest recently while the low metal loading poses a big challenge for further applications. Herein, a dual protection strategy has been developed to give high-content SACs by nanocasting SiO₂ into porphyrinic metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). The pyrolysis of SiO₂@MOF composite affords singleatom Fe implanted N-doped porous carbon (FeSA–N–C) with high Fe loading (3.46 wt%). The spatial isolation of Fe atoms centered in porphyrin linkers of MOF sets the first protective barrier to inhibit the Fe agglomeration during pyrolysis. The SiO₂ in MOF provides additional protection by creating thermally stable FeN4/SiO₂ interfaces. Thanks to the high-density FeSA sites, FeSA–N–C demonstrates excellent oxygen reduction performance in both alkaline and acidic medias. Meanwhile, FeSA–N–C also exhibits encouraging performance in proton exchange membrane fuel cell, demonstrating great potential for practical application. More far-reaching, this work grants a general synthetic methodology toward high-content SACs (such as FeSA, CoSA, NiSA). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16715-6 OPEN 1

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1632832

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Vol. 11, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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