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Iron atom–cluster interactions increase activity and improve durability in Fe–N–C fuel cells

Author

Listed:
  • Xin Wan

    (Beihang University)

  • Qingtao Liu

    (Beihang University)

  • Jieyuan Liu

    (Beihang University)

  • Shiyuan Liu

    (Beihang University)

  • Xiaofang Liu

    (Beihang University)

  • Lirong Zheng

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Jiaxiang Shang

    (Beihang University)

  • Ronghai Yu

    (Beihang University)

  • Jianglan Shui

    (Beihang University)

Abstract

Simultaneously increasing the activity and stability of the single-atom active sites of M–N–C catalysts is critical but remains a great challenge. Here, we report an Fe–N–C catalyst with nitrogen-coordinated iron clusters and closely surrounding Fe–N4 active sites for oxygen reduction reaction in acidic fuel cells. A strong electronic interaction is built between iron clusters and satellite Fe–N4 due to unblocked electron transfer pathways and very short interacting distances. The iron clusters optimize the adsorption strength of oxygen reduction intermediates on Fe–N4 and also shorten the bond amplitude of Fe–N4 with incoherent vibrations. As a result, both the activity and stability of Fe–N4 sites are increased by about 60% in terms of turnover frequency and demetalation resistance. This work shows the great potential of strong electronic interactions between multiphase metal species for improvements of single-atom catalysts.

Suggested Citation

  • Xin Wan & Qingtao Liu & Jieyuan Liu & Shiyuan Liu & Xiaofang Liu & Lirong Zheng & Jiaxiang Shang & Ronghai Yu & Jianglan Shui, 2022. "Iron atom–cluster interactions increase activity and improve durability in Fe–N–C fuel cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-30702-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30702-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kara Strickland & Elise Miner & Qingying Jia & Urszula Tylus & Nagappan Ramaswamy & Wentao Liang & Moulay-Tahar Sougrati & Frédéric Jaouen & Sanjeev Mukerjee, 2015. "Highly active oxygen reduction non-platinum group metal electrocatalyst without direct metal–nitrogen coordination," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-8, November.
    2. Daniel Malko & Anthony Kucernak & Thiago Lopes, 2016. "In situ electrochemical quantification of active sites in Fe–N/C non-precious metal catalysts," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, December.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Shuo Zhang & Jianghua Wu & Mengting Zheng & Xin Jin & Zihan Shen & Zhonghua Li & Yanjun Wang & Quan Wang & Xuebin Wang & Hui Wei & Jiangwei Zhang & Peng Wang & Shanqing Zhang & Liyan Yu & Lifeng Dong , 2023. "Fe/Cu diatomic catalysts for electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Cai Wang & Xiaoyu Wang & Houan Ren & Yilin Zhang & Xiaomei Zhou & Jing Wang & Qingxin Guan & Yuping Liu & Wei Li, 2023. "Combining Fe nanoparticles and pyrrole-type Fe-N4 sites on less-oxygenated carbon supports for electrochemical CO2 reduction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Shan, Pengyue & Bai, Xue & Jiang, Qi & Chen, Yunjian & Lu, Sen & Song, Pei & Jia, Zepeng & Xiao, Taiyang & Han, Yang & Wang, Yazhou & Liu, Tong & Cui, Hong & Feng, Rong & Kang, Qin & Liang, Zhiyong & , 2023. "Bilayer MN4-O-MN4 by bridge-bonded oxygen ligands: Machine learning to accelerate the design of bifunctional electrocatalysts," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 445-454.

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