Tohoku University · Engineering
Professor Di Zhang's research lab specializes in the design, synthesis, and fundamental understanding of advanced electrocatalysts, particularly metal-nitrogen-carbon single-atom catalysts (M-N-C SACs), for sustainable energy conversion and storage applications. The lab focuses on unraveling the structure-activity relationships in these catalysts, especially their pH-dependent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) mechanisms, electron transfer pathways, and the identification of rate-determining steps. By integrating high-throughput computational screening with experimental validation, the lab aims to develop efficient, low-cost alternatives to platinum-group catalysts for fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Their work bridges atomic-scale electronic structure insights with practical electrocatalytic performance, advancing the field of electrocatalysis for clean energy technologies.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Metal-nitrogen-carbon (M-N-C) single-atom catalysts (SACs) have emerged as a potential substitute for the costly platinum-group catalysts in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, several critical aspects of M-N-C SACs in ORR remain poorly understood, including their pH-dependent activity, selectivity for 2- or 4-electron transfer pathways, and the identification of the rate-determining steps. Herein, by analyzing >100 M-N-C structures and >2000 sets of energetics, we unveil a pH-dependent ev
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