Developing a class of dual atom materials for multifunctional catalytic reactions.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 37938254.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-42756-8 and PMC identifier 10632389.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Dual atom catalysts, bridging single atom and metal/alloy nanoparticle catalysts, offer more opportunities to enhance the kinetics and multifunctional performance of oxygen reduction/evolution and hydrogen evolution reactions. However, the rational design of efficient multifunctional dual atom catalysts remains a blind area and is challenging. In this study, we achieved controllable regulation from Co nanoparticles to CoN<sub>4</sub> single atoms to Co<sub>2</sub>N<sub>5</sub> dual atoms using an atomization and sintering strategy via an N-stripping and thermal-migrating process. More importantly, this strategy could be extended to the fabrication of 22 distinct dual atom catalysts. In particular, the Co<sub>2</sub>N<sub>5</sub> dual atom with tailored spin states could achieve ideally balanced adsorption/desorption of intermediates, thus realizing superior multifunctional activity. In addition, it endows Zn-air batteries with long-term stability for 800 h, allows water splitting to continuously operate for 1000 h, and can enable solar-powered water splitting systems with uninterrupted large-scale hydrogen production throughout day and night. This universal and scalable strategy provides opportunities for the controlled design of efficient multifunctional dual atom catalysts in energy conversion technologies.