Precise Engineering of the Electrocatalytic Activity of FeN<sub>4</sub>-Embedded Graphene on Oxygen Electrode Reactions by Attaching Electrides
Peng Wu, Zengying Ma, Xueqian Xia, Bowen Song, Junwen Zhong, Yanghong Yu, Yucheng Huang
Abstract
Using first-principles calculations combined with a constant-potential implicit solvent model, we comprehensively studied the activity of oxygen electrode reactions catalyzed by electride-supported FeN 4 -embedded graphene (FeN 4 C x ). The physical quantities in FeN 4 C x /electrides, i.e., work function of electrides, interlayer spacing, stability of heterostructures, charge transferred to Fe, d-band center of Fe, and adsorption free energy of O, are highly intercorrelated, resulting in activity being fully expressed by the nature of the electrides themselves, thereby achieving a precise modulation in activity by selecting different electrides. Strikingly, the FeN 4 PD C x /Ca 2 N and FeN 4 PD C x /Y 2 C systems maintain a high oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity with the overpotential less than 0.46 and 0.62 V in a wide pH range. This work provides an effective strategy for the rational design of efficient bifunctional catalysts as well as a model system with a simple activity-descriptor, helping to realize significant advances in energy devices.