Non‐Metal Silicon Single‐Atom Catalysts with Unsymmetrically Tetradentate O <sub>3</sub> N <sub>1</sub> Moiety Enabling Ampere‐Level H <sub>2</sub> O <sub>2</sub> Electrosynthesis
The development of efficient and stable catalysts for scalable and sustainable hydrogen peroxide (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>) electrosynthesis via two-electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e-ORR) is of great significance to replace the high-pollution anthraquinone oxidation process. Herein, O/N dual-coordinated silicon (Si) single-atom catalysts (SACs) uniformly immobilized on N-doped graphene (SiO<sub>3</sub>-NC) are successfully synthesized using silicate as Si dopant via controllable solvothermal and nitridation processes. In the synthesize reaction, Si centers convert from Si-O<sub>3</sub> planar triangle to unsymmetrical Si-O<sub>3</sub>N<sub>1</sub> tetrahedron, which effectively modify the electronic distribution of the carbon matrix, providing high-density active sites for electrocatalytic H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> production. SiO<sub>3</sub>-NC catalysts achieve industrial-relevant current densities for H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> production with a record-high productivity of 63.69 mol h<sup>-1</sup> g<sub>cat.</sub> <sup>-1</sup>, while maintaining exceptional Faradaic efficiencies and stability. In situ spectroscopic studies and theoretical calculations uncover that the unsymmetrically Si-O<sub>3</sub>N<sub>1</sub> configuration acts as an active center, which affords near-optimal binding strength for OOH* adsorption and accelerates the kinetics of H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> formation, thus promoting 2e-ORR process.
Authors
- Zhixing Mou
- Yuewen Mu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0162-5091)
- Daili Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-2788-4689)
- Lo‐Yueh Chang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8413-2112)
- Haiqing Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0263-3026)
- Junjie Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3414-3734)
- Lijia Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2439-0739)
- Xiujun Fan
- Ting‐Shan Chan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5220-1611)
- Shuai Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9455-6015)
- Wenjun Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7233-5753)
Institutions
- Western University (CA)
- Hunan Normal University (CN)
- Shanxi University (CN)
- National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (TW)
- Institute of Coal Chemistry (CN)
- Xi'an Jiaotong University (CN)
- Taiyuan University of Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Small
- Published
- 2025-07-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202504777
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.36
Funders
- Rice University
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences