Laser Synthesis of Nonprecious Metal-Based Single-Atom Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Development of nonprecious metal-based single-atom catalysts (SACs) has provided opportunities to substitute Pt group metals and offer maximum atom utilization and unique coordination environments. Among these catalysts, Fe-N-C catalysts with atomically dispersed Fe-N₄ active sites have emerged as some of the most promising oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts. However, furnace synthesis of Fe-N-C catalysts with carbon substrate derived from metal-organic framework (MOF) involves a high-temperature procedure, in which nitrogen from the carbonized MOF tends to be removed, subsequently leading to a low density of active sites. In this work, we developed a rapid and simple solid-state route to fabricate SACs through laser-induced thermal activation (LITA) of carbonized zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) adsorbed with Fe precursors. The results demonstrate that the laser process effectively avoids the loss of nitrogen in the nitrogen-doped carbon substrate and achieves a loading of Fe single atoms of 2.3 wt %, in comparison with that of 1.2 wt % from the conventional furnace treatment. The Fe-N-C catalyst synthesized in the study presents a half-wave potential of 0.91 V for ORR in alkaline media, which is higher than that of commercial Pt/C (0.87 V). When used as a cathode catalyst in zinc-air batteries (ZABs), the battery exhibits excellent electrochemical performance. This work also demonstrates the versatility of the technique through the successful synthesis of Co-N-C and Ni-N-C single atoms on nitrogen-doped carbon substrates.