Nano Lett.: Simple-Cubic Carbon Frameworks with Atomically Dispersed Iron Dopants toward High-Efficiency Oxygen Reduction

Title：

Simple-Cubic Carbon Frameworks with Atomically Dispersed Iron Dopants toward High-Efficiency Oxygen Reduction

Authors：

Biwei Wang,¹ Xinxia Wang,² Jinxiang Zou,¹ Yancui Yan,¹ Songhai Xie,¹ Guangzhi Hu,³ Yanguang Li,*²   and Angang Dong*¹

Institutions：

¹Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, and Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China

²Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou   215123, China

³The Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China

Abstract：

Iron and nitrogen co-doped carbons (Fe-N-C) have attracted increasingly greater attention as electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Although challenging, the synthesis of Fe-N-C catalysts with highly dispersed and fully exposed active sites is of critical importance for improving the ORR activity. Here, we report anew type of graphitic Fe-N-C catalysts featuring numerous Fe single atoms anchored on a three-dimensional simple-cubic carbon framework. The Fe-N-C catalyst, derived from self-assembled Fe₃O₄ nanocube superlattices, was prepared by inligand carbonization followed by acid etching and ammonia activation. Benefiting from its homogeneously dispersed and fully accessible active sites, highly graphitic nature, and enhanced mass transport, our Fe-N-C catalyst outperformed Pt/C and many previously reported Fe-N-C catalysts for ORR. Furthermore, when used for constructing the cathode for zinc-air batteries, our Fe-N-C catalyst exhibited current and power densities comparable to those of the state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst.

IF：

12.712

Link：

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b00004