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Atomic CoN3S1 sites for boosting oxygen reduction reaction via an atomic exchange strategy

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Abstract

It is vitally important to develop high-efficiency low-cost catalysts to boost oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for renewable energy conversion. Herein, an A-CoN3S1@C electrocatalyst with atomic CoN3S1 active sites loaded on N, S-codoped porous carbon was produced by an atomic exchange strategy. The constructed A-CoN3S1@C electrocatalyst exhibits an unexpected half-wave potential (0.901 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode) with excellent durability for ORR under alkaline conditions (0.1 M KOH), superior to the commercial platinum carbon (20 wt.% Pt/C). The outstanding performance of A-CoN3S1@C in ORR is due to the positive effect of S atoms doping on optimizing the electron structure of the atomic CoN3S1 active sites. Moreover, the rechargeable zinc-air battery in which both A-CoN3S1@C and IrO2 were simultaneously served as cathode catalysts (A-CoN3S1@C &IrO2) exhibits higher energy efficiency, larger power density, as well as better stability, compared to the commercial Pt/C&IrO2-based zinc-air battery. The present result should be helpful for developing lower cost and higher performance ORR catalysts which is expected to be used in practical applications in energy devices.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support from the Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21631003 and 21871024), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nos. FRF-BR-19-003B and FRF-BD-20-14A).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering, Beijing Key Laboratory for Science and Application of Functional Molecular and Crystalline Materials, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Qianjun Zhi, Rong Jiang, Wenping Liu, Tingting Sun, Kang Wang & Jianzhuang Jiang

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  1. Qianjun Zhi
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  2. Rong Jiang
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  3. Wenping Liu
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Correspondence to Kang Wang or Jianzhuang Jiang.

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Zhi, Q., Jiang, R., Liu, W. et al. Atomic CoN3S1 sites for boosting oxygen reduction reaction via an atomic exchange strategy. Nano Res. 15, 1803–1808 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3748-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3748-6

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