Zinc Assisted Thermal Etching for Rich Edge-Located Fe-N₄ Active Sites in Defective Carbon Nanofiber for Activity Enhancement of Oxygen Electroreduction.

ABSTRACT: Single-atom catalysts (SACs) with edge-located metal active sites exhibit superior oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance due to their narrower energy gap and higher electron density. However, controllably designing such active sites to fully reveal their advantages remains challenging. Herein, rich edge-located Fe-N₄ active sites anchored in hierarchically porous carbon nanofibers (denoted as e₁-Fe-N-C) are fabricated via an in situ zinc-assisted thermal etching strategy. The e₁-Fe-N-C catalyst demonstrates superior alkaline ORR activity compared to counterparts with fewer edge-located Fe-N₄ sites and commercial Pt/C. Density functional theory calculations show that the accumulation of more negative charges near the Fe-N and the formation o

SUBMITTER: Pang R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11496982 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature