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Research Article

Atomically dispersed dual Fe centers on nitrogen-doped bamboo-like carbon nanotubes for efficient oxygen reduction

Ligang Ma1,§, Junlin Li2,§, Zhiwei Zhang3,§, Hao Yang4, Xueqin Mu4, Xiangyao Gu4, Huihui Jin3, Ding Chen3, Senlin Yan1( ), Suli Liu4( ), Shichun Mu3,5( )
School of Electronic Engineering, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing 211171, China
Nanjing Key Laboratory of Optometric Materials and Technology, Jinling Institute of Technology, Nanjing 211169, China
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials of Nanjing, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing 211171, China
Foshan Xianhu Laboratory of the Advanced Energy Science and Technology Guangdong Laboratory, Xianhu Hydrogen Valley, Foshan 528200, China

§ Ligang Ma, Junlin Li, and Zhiwei Zhang contributed equally to this work.

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Graphical Abstract

Abstract

Interfacial atomic configuration between dual-metal active species and nitrogen-carbon substrates is of great importance for improving the intrinsic activity of catalysts toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Thus, from the atomic-scale engineering we develop a high intrinsic activity ORR catalyst in terms of incorporating atomically dispersed dual Fe centers (single Fe atoms and ultra-small Fe atomic clusters) into bamboo-like N-doped carbon nanotubes. Benefiting from atomically dispersed dual-Fe centers on the atomic interface of Fe-Nx/carbon nanotubes, the fabricated dual Fe centers catalyst exhibits an extremely high ORR activity (Eonset = 1.006 V; E1/2 = 0.90 V), beyond state-of-the-art Pt/C. Remarkably, this catalyst also shows a superior kinetic current density of 19.690 mA·cm−2, which is 7 times that of state-of-the-art Pt/C. Additionally, based on the excellent catalyst, the primary Zn-air battery reveals a high power density up to 137 mW·cm−2 and sufficient potential cycling stability (at least 25 h). Undoubtedly, given the unique structure–activity relationship of dual-Fe active species and metal-nitrogen-carbon substrates, the catalyst will show great prospects in highly efficient electrochemical energy conversion devices.

Keywords

atomic configurationsingle Fe atomsatomically dispersed Fe clustersN-doped bamboo-like carbon nanotubesoxygen reduction reaction

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Nano Research
Volume 15 Issue 3,
March 2022
Pages 1966-1972
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-021-3845-6
Cite this article:
Ma L, Li J, Zhang Z, et al. Atomically dispersed dual Fe centers on nitrogen-doped bamboo-like carbon nanotubes for efficient oxygen reduction. Nano Research, 2022, 15(3): 1966-1972. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3845-6
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Received: 02 August 2021
Revised: 23 August 2021
Accepted: 25 August 2021
Published: 18 September 2021
© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
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