Monosymmetric Fe-N4 sites enabling durable proton exchange membrane fuel cell cathode by chemical vapor modification

Jingsen Bai, Tuo Zhao, Mingjun Xu, Bingbao Mei, Liting Yang, Zhaoping Shi, Siyuan Zhu, Ying Wang (), Zheng Jiang, Jin Zhao (), Junjie Ge (), Meiling Xiao, Changpeng Liu and Wei Xing ()
Additional contact information
Jingsen Bai: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Tuo Zhao: FAW Jiefang Automotive CO.LTD.
Mingjun Xu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Bingbao Mei: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Liting Yang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhaoping Shi: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Siyuan Zhu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Ying Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zheng Jiang: University of Science and Technology of China
Jin Zhao: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Junjie Ge: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Meiling Xiao: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Changpeng Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wei Xing: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract The limited durability of metal-nitrogen-carbon electrocatalysts severely restricts their applicability for the oxygen reduction reaction in proton exchange membrane fuel cells. In this study, we employ the chemical vapor modification method to alter the configuration of active sites from FeN4 to the stable monosymmetric FeN2+N’2, along with enhancing the degree of graphitization in the carbon substrate. This improvement effectively addresses the challenges associated with Fe active center leaching caused by N-group protonation and free radicals attack due to the 2-electron oxygen reduction reaction. The electrocatalyst with neoteric active site exhibited excellent durability. During accelerated aging test, the electrocatalyst exhibited negligible decline in its half-wave potential even after undergoing 200,000 potential cycles. Furthermore, when subjected to operational conditions representative of fuel cell systems, the electrocatalyst displayed remarkable durability, sustaining stable performance for a duration exceeding 248 h. The significant improvement in durability provides highly valuable insights for the practical application of metal-nitrogen-carbon electrocatalysts.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47817-0 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-47817-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47817-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().