Atomic metal coordinated to nitrogen-doped carbon electrocatalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cells: a
Angus Pedersen1,2, Alexander Bagger1,3, Jesús Barrio2
1Department of Materials, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London London SW7 2AZ England UK a.pedersen19@imperial.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells require reduced construction costs to improve commercial viability, which can be fueled by elimination of platinum as the O2 reduction electrocatalyst. The past 10 years has seen significant developments in synthesis, characterisation, and electrocatalytic performance of the most promising alternative electrocatalyst; single metal atoms coordinated to nitrogen-doped carbon (M-N-C). In this Perspective we recap some of the important achievements of M-N-Cs in the last decade, as well as discussing current knowledge gaps and future research directions for the community. We provide a new outlook on M-N-C stability and atomistic understanding with a set of original density functional theory simulations.
