Single atomic cobalt electrocatalyst for efficient oxygen reduction reaction
Peng Rao,
Daoxiong Wu,
Tian-Jiao Wang,
Jing Li,
Peilin Deng,
Qi Chen,
Yijun Shen,
Yu Chen,
Xinlong Tian
Affiliations
Peng Rao
State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan Provincial Key Lab of Fine Chemistry, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China
Daoxiong Wu
State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan Provincial Key Lab of Fine Chemistry, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China
Tian-Jiao Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, 710062, China
Jing Li
State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan Provincial Key Lab of Fine Chemistry, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China
Peilin Deng
State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan Provincial Key Lab of Fine Chemistry, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China
Qi Chen
State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan Provincial Key Lab of Fine Chemistry, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China
Yijun Shen
State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan Provincial Key Lab of Fine Chemistry, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China
Yu Chen
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, 710062, China; Corresponding authors.
Xinlong Tian
State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan Provincial Key Lab of Fine Chemistry, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China; Corresponding authors.
Robust oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts are essential for energy storage and conversion devices, but their development remains challenging. Herein, we design a single-atom catalyst featuring isolated Co anchored on nitrogen-doped carbon (Co-SAC/NC) via a highly efficient “plasma-bombing” strategy. With a high loading (up to 2.5 wt%), the well-dispersed single Co atoms in Co-SAC/NC give it robust ORR performance in an alkaline medium. It also demonstrates excellent battery performance when implemented as the air-cathode catalyst in a zinc-air battery (ZAB). Theoretical calculations reveal that the Co–N4 moiety experiences an “extraction/recovery” structural evolution during the ORR process, and the reaction's rate-determining step is the formation of OOH∗ (reaction intermediate). This work provides a new strategy for designing robust ORR catalysts for high-performance ZABs and other energy-conversion devices.
