Synergistic Effects between Atomically Dispersed Fe-N-C and C-S-C for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Acidic Media

Hangjia Shen; Eduardo Gracia-Espino; Jingyuan Ma; Ketao Zang; Jun Luo; Le Wang; Sanshuang Gao; Xamxikamar Mamat; Guangzhi Hu; Thomas Wagberg; Shaojun Guo

doi:10.1002/anie.201706602

Synergistic Effects between Atomically Dispersed Fe-N-C and C-S-C for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Acidic Media

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2017 Oct 23;56(44):13800-13804. doi: 10.1002/anie.201706602. Epub 2017 Sep 27.

Authors

Hangjia Shen^{1

2}, Eduardo Gracia-Espino³, Jingyuan Ma⁴, Ketao Zang⁵, Jun Luo⁵, Le Wang^{1

2}, Sanshuang Gao¹, Xamxikamar Mamat¹, Guangzhi Hu^{1

3}, Thomas Wagberg³, Shaojun Guo⁶

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Chemistry of Plant Resources in Arid Regions, State Key Laboratory Basis of Xinjiang indigenous medicinal plants resource utilization, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
³ Department of Physics, Umeå University, 90187, Umeå, Sweden.
⁴ Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201204, China.
⁵ Center for Electron Microscopy, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Porous Materials, Institute for New Energy Materials & Low-Carbon Technologies, School of Materials, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China.
⁶ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.

PMID: 28857381
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201706602

Abstract

Various advanced catalysts based on sulfur-doped Fe/N/C materials have recently been designed for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR); however, the enhanced activity is still controversial and usually attributed to differences in the surface area, improved conductivity, or uncertain synergistic effects. Herein, a sulfur-doped Fe/N/C catalyst (denoted as Fe/SNC) was obtained by a template-sacrificing method. The incorporated sulfur gives a thiophene-like structure (C-S-C), reduces the electron localization around the Fe centers, improves the interaction with oxygenated species, and therefore facilitates the complete 4 e^- ORR in acidic solution. Owing to these synergistic effects, the Fe/SNC catalyst exhibits much better ORR activity than the sulfur-free variant (Fe/NC) in 0.5 m H₂ SO₄ .

Keywords: doping; iron; oxygen reduction reaction; sulfur; synergistic effects.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't