Nanotechnology

Electrode

Organic chemistry

Nanostructure

Heteroatom

Ring (chemistry)

Redistribution (election)

Politics

Composite number

Engineering

Catalysis

Carbon fibers

Political science

Physical chemistry

Composite material

Chemistry

Materials science

Oxygen reduction reaction

Pyrolysis

Chemical engineering

Electrochemistry

Oxygen

ACS Energy Letters

Single Fe atom dispersed carbon nanostructures show promising oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activities for renewable energy applications. Nevertheless, the microenvironment of the single Fe atoms needs to be further engineered to optimize the catalytic performance, which is challenging. In this work, we develop a NaCl-template pyrolysis method to fabricate single Fe atom catalysts with atomically dispersed Fe–heteroatom (N, S) bridge sites anchored on carbon nanosheets. The N and S coordinated Fe atomic sites (FeN3S) are found to induce charge redistribution, lowering the binding strength of oxygenated reaction intermediates and leading to fast reaction kinetics and good oxygen reduction activity. Our work provides an effective method to regulate the microenvironment of single-atom catalysts for optimizing electrocatalytic performance.

Atomically Dispersed Fe–Heteroatom (N, S) Bridge Sites Anchored on Carbon Nanosheets for Promoting Oxygen Reduction Reaction