What is it about?
We have found a molecular probe, HEDP, that increases selectivity of MNC catalysts for oxygen reduction by blocking nitrogen sites that reduce oxygen partially to hydrogen peroxide. The HEDP strongly binds to N-H and protonated sites and blocks them for oxygen binding preventing the undesired pathway of oxygen reduction. Near ambient X-rya photoelectron spectroscopy was used to follow this directly in situ. DFT calculatoins confirmed strong binding of HEDP to quaternary-like (protonated) nitrogens.
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Why is it important?
Not only this study confirmed participation of nitrogen species in undesirable pathways but also it showed that one can increase selectivity of ORR by utilizing additives during fuel cell operation
Perspectives
There are multiple phosphonate-based molecules that can be evaluated as selectivity boosters using predictive power of DFT to increase the efficiency of ORR reaction.
Dr Kateryna Artyushkova
Physical Electronics
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Mechanism of Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Transition Metal–Nitrogen–Carbon Catalysts: Establishing the Role of Nitrogen-containing Active Sites, ACS Applied Energy Materials, October 2018, American Chemical Society (ACS),
DOI: 10.1021/acsaem.8b00959.
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