Stepwise Anchoring of Atomically Dispersed Fe‐Fe Diatomic Sites via a Prussian Blue Analogue Route for Advanced Oxygen Reduction in Zinc‐Air Batteries

ABSTRACT Dual‐atom catalysts (DACs) outperform single‐atom catalysts (SACs) via interatomic electronic modulation of active sites, yet accurate fabrication of diatomic structures restricts their mechanistic research. Herein, we fabricate a Fe‐Fe homonuclear DAC (Fe (CN)6 ‐Fe‐NC) through strong coordination between ferrocyanide and unsaturated Fe sites on Fe‐ZIF‐NC inspired by Prussian blue chemistry. A two‐step synthetic route preloads Fe ions in ZIF‐8 before introducing ferrocyanide, which precisely forms Fe‐Fe dual sites and avoids Fe cluster aggregation. The paired Fe atoms deliver two synergistic effects toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR): bridging O 2 adsorption weakens O─O bonds to reduce dissociation barriers, and intermetallic electron tuning optimizes intermediate desorption. The catalyst achieves a remarkable half‐wave potential of 0.91 V, surpassing commercial Pt/C (0.84 V). Assembled as air cathodes, liquid and flexible Zn‐air batteries reach peak power densities of 235.9 and 163 mW cm −2 both exceeding Pt/C counterparts. This coordination engineering strategy enables controllable homonuclear diatomic construction and reveals promising prospects of DACs for advanced energy devices.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Small
Published
2026-07-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.74495
Primary Topic
Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Stepwise Anchoring of Atomically Dispersed Fe‐Fe Diatomic Sites via a Prussian Blue Analogue Route for Advanced Oxygen Reduction in Zinc‐Air Batteries

Qiang Tan, Shaobo Jia, Yitian Jiang, Lu Yang et al.
Small
Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
article

Stepwise Anchoring of Atomically Dispersed Fe‐Fe Diatomic Sites via a Prussian Blue Analogue Route for Advanced Oxygen Reduction in Zinc‐Air Batteries

Qiang Tan, Shaobo Jia, Yitian Jiang, Lu Yang, Yuanzhen Chen, Yan Liu, Liting Liu, Haiyan Zhu
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Dual‐atom catalysts (DACs) outperform single‐atom catalysts (SACs) via interatomic electronic modulation of active sites, yet accurate fabrication of diatomic structures restricts their mechanistic research. Herein, we fabricate a Fe‐Fe homonuclear DAC (Fe (CN)6 ‐Fe‐NC) through strong coordination between ferrocyanide and unsaturated Fe sites on Fe‐ZIF‐NC inspired by Prussian blue chemistry. A two‐step synthetic route preloads Fe ions in ZIF‐8 before introducing ferrocyanide, which precisely forms Fe‐Fe dual sites and avoids Fe cluster aggregation. The paired Fe atoms deliver two synergistic effects toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR): bridging O 2 adsorption weakens O─O bonds to reduce dissociation barriers, and intermetallic electron tuning optimizes intermediate desorption. The catalyst achieves a remarkable half‐wave potential of 0.91 V, surpassing commercial Pt/C (0.84 V). Assembled as air cathodes, liquid and flexible Zn‐air batteries reach peak power densities of 235.9 and 163 mW cm −2 both exceeding Pt/C counterparts. This coordination engineering strategy enables controllable homonuclear diatomic construction and reveals promising prospects of DACs for advanced energy devices.

Small
Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (CN), Northwestern Polytechnical University (CN), Northwest University (CN), Shanghai Power Equipment Research Institute (CN), Xi'an Jiaotong University (CN)
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 25%
Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.