TY - JOUR A1 - Menga, D. A1 - Low, Jian Liang A1 - Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Paulus, B. A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick T1 - The Tetrapyrollic Motif in Nitrogen Doped Carbons and M-N-C Electrocatalysts as Active Site in the Outer-Sphere Mechanism of the Alkaline Oxygen Reduction Reaction JF - Advanced Energy Materials N2 - Development and fundamental understanding of precious-group-metal-free electrocatalysts is hampered by limitations in the quantification of the intrinsic activity of different catalytic sites and understanding the different reaction mechanisms. Comparing isomorphic nitrogen-doped carbons, Zn-N-Cs and Fe-N-Cs with the common tetrapyrrolic motif, a catalyst-independent outer-sphere rate-determining step in the alkaline oxygen reduction reaction is observed. Density functional theory (DFT) simulations on tetrapyrrolic model structures indicate the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level as a good descriptor for the catalytic activity. Contour plots suggest that the electron transfer occurs directly from the tetrapyrrolic coordination site, rather than from the metal center. Metal-free tetrapyrrolic N4 sites are discovered to be highly active oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) active sites in alkaline that reach turnover frequencies (TOF) of 0.33 and 1.84 s−1 at 0.80 and 0.75 VRHE in the order of magnitude of tetrapyrrolic Fe–N4 sites in the acidic ORR. While Zn-coordination lowers the HOMO level and therefore the catalytic activity, Fe-coordination lifts the HOMO level resulting in TOF values of 0.4 and 4 s−1 for tetrapyrrolic Fe–N4 sites at 0.90 and 0.85 VRHE, respectively. At higher mass activities, the peroxide reduction becomes rate-limiting, where highest peroxide production rates are observed for the nitrogen-doped carbon. KW - Tetrapyrollic KW - Motif KW - Nitrogen KW - Carbons KW - Alkaline Oxygen PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-606239 DO - https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202400482 VL - 2024 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Wiley-VCH AN - OPUS4-60623 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -