Evidence for the stabilization of FeN4 sites by Pt particles during acidic oxygen reduction

Ishiki NA, Teixeira Santos K, Bibent N, Kumar K, Reichmann I, Ku YP, Asset T, Dubau L, Mermoux M, Ge H, Berthon-Fabry S, Saveleva VA, Paidi VK, Glatzel P, Zitolo A, Mineva T, Guesmi H, Cherevko S, Ticianelli EA, Maillard F, Jaouen F (2025)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

Nature Communications Nature Publishing Group: Nature Communications

Book Volume: 16

Article Number: 6404

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-61806-x

Abstract

While Fe–N–C materials have shown promising initial oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity, they lack durability in acidic medium. Key degradation mechanisms include FeN4 site demetallation and deactivation by reactive oxygen species. Here we show for mainstream Fe–N–Cs that adding 1 wt.% Pt nanoparticles via a soft polyol method results in well-defined and stable Pt/Fe–N–C hybrids. The Pt addition strongly reduces the H2O2 production and Fe leaching rate during ORR, while post mortem Mössbauer spectroscopy reveals that the highly active but unstable Fe(III)N4 site is partially stabilized. The similar H2O2 electroreduction activity of Pt/Fe–N–C and Fe–N–C and other analyses point toward a long-distance electronic effect of Pt nanoparticles in stabilizing FeN4 sites. Computational chemistry reveals that spin polarization of distant Pt atoms mitigates the structural changes of FeN4 sites upon adsorption of oxygenated species atop Fe, especially in high-spin state.

Involved external institutions

University of Montpellier / Université Montpellier

France (FR) University of Grenoble Alpes (UGA) / Université de Grenoble

France (FR) Forschungszentrum Jülich / Research Centre Jülich (FZJ)

Germany (DE) Mines ParisTech / École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris (ENSMP)

France (FR) European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF)

France (FR) University of São Paulo / Universidade de São Paulo (USP)

Brazil (BR) Synchrotron SOLEIL

France (FR)

How to cite

APA:

Ishiki, N.A., Teixeira Santos, K., Bibent, N., Kumar, K., Reichmann, I., Ku, Y.P.,... Jaouen, F. (2025). Evidence for the stabilization of FeN4 sites by Pt particles during acidic oxygen reduction. Nature Communications, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61806-x

MLA:

Ishiki, Nicolas A., et al. "Evidence for the stabilization of FeN4 sites by Pt particles during acidic oxygen reduction." Nature Communications 16.1 (2025).

BibTeX: Download