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Influence of 3d transition-metal substitution on the oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalysis of ternary nitrides in acid

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An Erratum to this article was published on 25 June 2020

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Abstract

The development of non-precious, acid-stable, oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts can significantly aid the commercialization of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). We report a survey of the ORR electrocatalysis on 3d metal substituted (M = Mn, Fe, Co) molybdenum and tungsten nitrides in acidic environments. We find that molybdate catalysts are more active than tungstates, with the specific activity depending on the chemistry of the substituted 3d metal. In both families, more electronegative 3d metals led to higher ORR activity (i.e., Co > Fe > Mn). We attribute this result to the ability of the more electronegative 3d metal to withdraw electrons from the Mo- or W-based active sites, effectively oxidizing the metal centers of the catalysts. Based on our observation, future nitride ORR electrocatalysts can be further optimized by oxidizing the Mo sites further by, for example, adding even more electronegative dopant metals or incorporating anion vacancies.

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Change history

  • 25 June 2020

    The NSF number in Acknowledgements in page 2311 was unfortunately wrong, instead of The work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. CHE-1805400.

    It should read The work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. CHE-1665305.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Francis J. DiSalvo (Cornell) for valuable discussions and use of his laboratory facility. The work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. CHE-1805400. This work used the Cornell Center for Materials Research Shared Facilities which were supported through the NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center program (DMR-1120296).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14850, USA

    Kevin E. Fritz, Yichen Yan & Jin Suntivich

  2. Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Ithaca, New York, 14850, USA

    Jin Suntivich

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  1. Kevin E. Fritz
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Correspondence to Jin Suntivich.

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Influence of 3d transition-metal substitution on the oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalysis of ternary nitrides in acid

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Fritz, K.E., Yan, Y. & Suntivich, J. Influence of 3d transition-metal substitution on the oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalysis of ternary nitrides in acid. Nano Res. 12, 2307–2312 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2440-6

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