Wei (Angela) Zhang


Postgraduate Research Student
BSc (Hon.) Biotechnology, MRes Biomedicine, MA Translation and Interpreting

About

My research project

Publications

Wei Zhang, Min Jiang, Fei Wang, Fan Yang, Hao He, Jian Yang, Wei Zhang, J Luo, Jiao Zhang, Chaopeng Fu (2022)Rationalization on high-loading iron and cobalt dual metal single atoms and mechanistic insight into the oxygen reduction reaction, In: Nano energy93 Elsevier Ltd

Rational design of single-atom catalysts (SACs) with high metal loadings is essential to enhance the sluggish kinetics of oxygen reduction reactions in metal-air batteries and proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Herein, an effective plasma engineering strategy to construct Fe/Co dual single atoms densely dispersed on porous nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers (Fe, Co SAs-PNCF) with a high mass loading of 9.8 wt% is proposed without any acid leaching. The electrocatalyst exhibits superior ORR performances in both alkaline and acidic media (e.g., Eonset = 1.04 V and E1/2 = 0.93 V). The N3-Fe-Co-N3 moieties are identified to be the main active sites by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and density functional theory calculations. The in situ XAS and Raman spectroscopy quantitively reveal the decrease in oxidation states of Fe/Co and the increase in bond lengths of the Fe-N/Co-N in the N3-Fe-Co-N3 during the ORR. Benefitting from the high loading of single atoms and enhanced activity, the Fe, Co SAs-PNCF endows the Al-air batteries and PEMFCs with excellent discharge performances, demonstrating promising practical applications. [Display omitted] •The atomic N3-Fe-Co-N3 dual sites with a high mass loading of 9.8 wt% are achieved.•The mass loading is linearly correlated with the defect degree.•Dual single atom sites are confirmed by AC-STEM and X-ray absorption spectroscopy.•In situ XAS and Raman reveal that the N3-Fe-Co-N3 plays an active role for ORR.