Ni/Co Dual Atom Catalysts with Synergistic Bifunctionality for High-efficiency Lithium Oxygen Battery

Abstract

Despite of the progress in cathode catalysts for lithium oxygen Li-O₂ batteries (LOBs) development, significant challenges persist, mainly due to the slow kinetics of the redox reactions due to insulating and insoluble discharge products. Dual-atom catalysts (DACs), perfectly inheriting the advantages of single atom catalysts (SACs), can exhibit better catalytic performance than simple SACs and thus have gradually gained researchers’ attention. Herein, integrated adjacent Ni/Co atoms were designed via a scalable pre-constrained metal twin’s strategy. Utilizing a click chemistry-derived approach, cross-linked polyphthalocyanine frameworks (TMPPc-XL) were synthesized. This design prevented metal aggregation during pyrolysis, enriched nitrogen, and stabilized well-defined Ni/Co-N_x coordination sites. The resulting dual-atom catalysts exhibited exceptional oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance, including high activity, stability, and capacity, driven by the synergistic electronic interplay between neighboring Ni-Co sites. It is expected that Ni optimizes intermediate adsorption, while Co tailored d-band positioning and lowers energy barriers, collectively enhancing charge redistribution and multi-step reaction stabilization. The modular synthesis, compatible with diverse transition metal phthalocyanines, offers a versatile platform for designing ideal electrocatalysts for realizing high-performance LOBs.

Keywords

Dual atom catalyst / Li-O₂ battery / Oxygen reduction/evolution reaction

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RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Jilin University, The Editorial Department of Chemical Research in Chinese Universities and Springer-Verlag GmbH