Modulating Spatial Distributions of Single Atoms on Supports for Enhanced Oxygen Evolution
Single-atom catalysts (SACs) hold great promise in oxygen evolution reactions due to their ultrahigh atomic utilization rates and uniform active sites. The performance of SACs is closely related to the spatial distributions of single atoms on the supports. However, modulating the spatial distributions of single atoms on the supports is extremely challenging. Herein, we precisely anchored Ir single atoms onto the face sites (Ir<sub>1</sub>/F-CoOOH) and the edge sites (Ir<sub>1</sub>/E-CoOOH) of CoOOH. Ir single atoms with distinct spatial distributions on CoOOH exhibited different electronic structures but nearly identical coordination environments. Nevertheless, Ir<sub>1</sub>/E-CoOOH required an overpotential of only 220 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>, which was 80 mV lower than that of Ir<sub>1</sub>/F-CoOOH. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that Ir single atoms with distinct spatial distributions activated the supports through different mechanisms.
Authors
- Jiawei Xue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3693-4115)
- Junjie Zou
- Yuan Kong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5637-2511)
- Wenting Gao
- Wanting Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5009-3901)
- Kwun Nam Hui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3008-8571)
- Jie Zeng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8812-0298)
- Kainan Mei
- Yan Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5404-5026)
- Zhirong Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4482-1256)
- Zheng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0911-267X)
Institutions
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- University of Macau (MO)
- Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (CN)
- Physical Sciences (United States) (US)
- Wuhan Engineering Science & Technology Institute (CN)
- National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (CN)
- Anhui University of Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nano Letters
- Published
- 2025-03-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c00465
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.73
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- State Key Laboratory of Catalysis
- Yulin University
- Hefei Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
- National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars
- Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy