近日，中国科学院过程工程研究所王丹团队研究了弯曲载体上单原子铁催化剂的酸性氧还原。相关论文于2025年8月13日发表在《自然》杂志上。

为具有成本效益的质子交换膜燃料电池开发高活性和耐用的电催化剂颇具挑战性。Fe/N-C催化剂是铂族金属催化剂中最有前景的替代品之一，但由于其对氧化反应中间体的强吸附和Fenton反应对Fe的脱金属作用，其活性和耐久性仍不能满足性能标准。

研究组设计并开发了一种新型的Fe/N-C催化剂，该催化剂由分散在二维碳层上的多个纳米突起组成，单个铁原子位点主要嵌入在纳米突起的内曲面上。石墨化的纳米突起外碳层不仅能有效削弱氧化反应中间体的结合强度，还能降低羟基自由基的生成速率。因此，Fe/N-C催化剂提供了性能最佳的无铂族金属质子交换膜燃料电池性能之一，在1.0bar 氢-空气条件下，实现了0.75 W cm^-2的创纪录功率密度，且在连续运行超过300小时后活性保持率仍达86%。

附：英文原文

Title: Acidic oxygen reduction by single-atom Fe catalysts on curved supports

Author: Zhao, Yasong, Wan, Jiawei, Ling, Chongyi, Wang, Yanlei, He, Hongyan, Yang, Nailiang, Wen, Rui, Zhang, Qinghua, Gu, Lin, Yang, Bolong, Xiang, Zhonghua, Chen, Chen, Wang, Jinlan, Wang, Xin, Wang, Yucheng, Tao, Huabing, Li, Xuning, Liu, Bin, Zhang, Suojiang, Wang, Dan

Issue&Volume: 2025-08-13

Abstract: Developing highly active and durable electrocatalysts for cost-effective proton-exchange membrane fuel cells is challenging1,2,3. Fe/N–C catalysts are among the most promising alternatives to the platinum group metal catalysts, but their activity and durability still cannot meet the performance criteria due to the strong adsorption of oxygenated reaction intermediates and the demetallization of Fe species caused by the Fenton reaction4,5,6,7,8. Here we design and develop a new type of Fe/N–C catalyst that is composed of numerous nanoprotrusions dispersed on two-dimensional carbon layers with single Fe-atom sites primarily embedded within the inner curved surface of the nanoprotrusions. The graphitized outer carbon layer of the nanoprotrusions can not only effectively weaken the binding strength of the oxygenated reaction intermediates, but also reduce the hydroxyl radical production rate. As a result, the Fe/N–C catalyst delivers one of the best-performing platinum group metal-free proton-exchange membrane fuel cell performances, achieving a record high power density of 0.75Wcm2 under 1.0bar H2–air with 86% activity retention after more than 300hours of continuous operation.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09364-6

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09364-6