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Design of active and stable oxygen reduction reaction catalysts by embedding Co x O y nanoparticles into nitrogen-doped carbon

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Abstract

The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is essential in research pertaining to life science and energy. In applications, platinum-based catalysts give ideal reactivity, but, in practice, are often subject to high costs and poor stability. Some cost-efficient transition metal oxides have exhibited excellent ORR reactivity, but the stability and durability of such alternative catalyst materials pose serious challenges. Here, we present a facile method to fabricate uniform Co x O y nanoparticles and embed them into N-doped carbon, which results in a composite of extraordinary stability and durability, while maintaining its high reactivity. The half-wave potential shows a negative shift of only 21 mV after 10,000 cycles, only one third of that observed for Pt/C (63 mV). Furthermore, after 100,000 s testing at a constant potential, the current decreases by only 17%, significantly less than for Pt/C (35%). The exceptional stability and durability results from the system architecture, which comprises a thin carbon shell that prevents agglomeration of the Co x O y nanoparticles and their detaching from the substrate.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge financial support by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (MINECO) (Nos. MAT2016-77393-R and MAT2013-46593-C6-4-P) and the Basque government (Nos. PI2013-56 and IT-621-13). M. K. acknowledges financial support through Marie Curie Actions (CIG) within project number 322158 (ARTEN). The authors also want to thank Dr. Jens Brede for the helpful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIC nanoGUNE Consolider, Tolosa Hiribidea 76, 20018, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain

    Fan Yang, Chaoqiu Chen, Weike Wang, Le Li, Andrey Chuvilin & Mato Knez

  2. Centro de Física de Materials CFM/MPC (CSIC-UPV/EHU), Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 5, 20018, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain

    Mikel Abadia & Celia Rogero

  3. School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China

    Lianbing Zhang

  4. Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 4, 20018, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain

    Celia Rogero

  5. IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Maria Diaz de Haro 3, 48013, Bilbao, Spain

    Andrey Chuvilin & Mato Knez

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  1. Fan Yang
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  2. Mikel Abadia
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Correspondence to Lianbing Zhang.

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Design of active and stable oxygen reduction reaction catalysts by embedding Co x O y nanoparticles into nitrogen-doped carbon

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Yang, F., Abadia, M., Chen, C. et al. Design of active and stable oxygen reduction reaction catalysts by embedding Co x O y nanoparticles into nitrogen-doped carbon. Nano Res. 10, 97–107 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1269-5

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