Deep Electronic State Regulation through Unidirectional Cascade Electron Transfer Induced by Dual Junction Boosting...

Unidirectional cascade electron transfer induced by multi-junctions is essential for deep electronic state regulation of the catalytic active sites, while this advanced concept has rarely been investigated in the field of electrocatalysis. In the present work, a dual junction heterostructure (FePc/L-R/CN) is designed by anchoring iron phthalocyanine (FePc)/MXene (L-Ti₃ C₂ -R, R═OH or F) heterojunction on g-C₃ N₄ nanosheet substrates for electrocatalysis. The unidirectional cascade electron transfer (g-C₃ N₄ → L-Ti₃ C₂ -R → FePc) induced by the dual junction of FePc/L-Ti₃ C₂ -R and L-Ti₃ C₂ -R/g-C₃ N₄ makes the Fe center electron-rich and therefore facilitates the adsorption of O₂ in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Moreover, the electron transfer between FePc and MXene is facilitated by the axial Fe─O coordination interaction of Fe with the OH in alkalized MXene nanosheets (L-Ti₃ C₂ -OH). As a result, FePc/L-OH/CN exhibits an impressive ORR activity with a half-wave potential (E_1/2 ) of 0.92 V, which is superior over the catalysts with a single junction and the state-of-the-art Pt/C (E_1/2 = 0.85 V). This work provides a broad idea for deep regulation of electronic state by the unidirectional cascade multi-step charge transfer and can be extended to other proton-coupled electron transfer processes.