@article{Zhang2025, 
author = {Ronggen Zhang and Tong Wu and Zongye Yue and Junping Zhang and Shenghua Chen and Pei Feng},
title = {Engineering the electronic structure of atomically dispersed p-block bismuth sites via multi-shells tuning effect for boosting oxygen reduction reaction},
year = {2025},
journal = {Nano Research},
volume = {18},
number = {8},
pages = {94907591},
keywords = {oxygen reduction reaction, Zn-air battery, p-block single atom catalysts, multi-shells tuning effect},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.26599/NR.2025.94907591},
doi = {10.26599/NR.2025.94907591},
abstract = {Main-group metal (s- and p-block) single atom catalysts (SACs), in which metal cations stabilized by nitrogen atoms (metal-Nx moieties), have emerged as efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR). However, the closed d shells over main-group metals-based catalysts hinder design of more efficient catalysts than state-of-the-art non-precious Fe single atom catalysts (Fe1/NC). Here we report a p-block Bi-based single-atom electrocatalyst with electronic structure controlled by multi-shell that exhibits high catalytic performance for ORR in alkaline media. Our data suggest the catalyst is composed of single Bi atoms coordinated with four nitrogen atoms on sulfur-phosphorus co-doped carbon nanocages (BiN4/PSNC). The catalyst gives a high half-wave potential of 0.94 V for 4 e− ORR and performs negligible attenuation after 10,000 cycles. In addition, the Zn-air battery assembled by BiN4/PSNC achieves a remarkable peak power density of 452.8 mW·cm−2, exceeding other reported main-group metal SACs and most d-band metal SACs. A range of analytical techniques combined with density functional theory calculations reveal that the introduction of S and P sites induces significant electronic modulations to the BiN4 active sites, P and S doping promote the electrical activity of BiN4 and improve the overall intersite electron transfer within BiN4/PSNC optimizing the adsorption energy of the oxygen intermediates. The 4e− ORR activity was improved. This work offers a unique pathway in designing main-group metals-based SACs for energy conversion devices.}
}