TY - CONF A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick T1 - Bioinspired Electrode Materials N2 - Porous carbon materials are known for their applicability in important areas such as sorption, catalysis and electrochemistry (e.g. fuel cell catalysts, supercapacitor or battery electrodes). It was shown that nitrogen doped carbons (NDCs) act as an inexpensive and highly active non-metal catalyst in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), with the potential to reach performances of practical need one day. A key strategy towards improvement for this aim comprises the generation of advantageous porosity, which typically means high surface area and mass transport pores as well as the control over the chemistry of catalytically active sites. My group developed novel sol-gel type strategies that are using molten salts or molten acids as unconventional reaction medium for the porogenesis in doped carbons, thereby revisiting classic activation techniques. Carbon materials with extra high surface area of ~2800 m2 g-1 and pore volumes, up to four times as high as in commercial activated carbons, are obtained. Hierarchical pore systems, like used in nature (leaves, lungs, etc.) facilitate some of the electrochemical performances. Moreover, because of the elements also defining organic matter, also binding motifs can be realized that are reminiscent of proteins/enzymes. We established the pyrolytic template-ion reaction using cations like Mg2+ and Zn2+ to imprint tetrapyrrolic N4 sites (like in the heme molecule), embedded into the carbon structure. The imprinted structure may be utilized as catalytically active site by performing ion-exchange reactions. This way catalytic activity can be tuned for different societal important reactions, but also the defined catalysts structure allows the assignment of structure-performance relations. Other “tricks” that nature uses, are to influence the passage of ions through cell walls, or to expel water molecules from catalytically active sites. I will show some recent work on carbon electrodes used as battery active materials that utilizes similar pathways. T2 - Kolloquium des Instituts für Anorganische und Allgemeine Chermie der Universität Freiburg CY - Freiburg, Germany DA - 04.12.2025 KW - Carbon KW - M-N-C KW - Fuel cell KW - Core-shell KW - Sodium ion battery PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-65021 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick T1 - Design, Structure and Performance of Fe-N-C Catalysts Based on Active-Site Imprinting N2 - Atomically dispersed M-N-C catalysts such as Fe-N-Cs are most promising alternatives for precious metal-based catalysts for several energy conversion reactions. Early reports on such materials date back to the 1960´s, when Jasinski pioneered the research based on tetrapyrrolic phthalocyanine macrocycles which were inspired by natural transition metal porphyrin complexes present in enzyme active sites. For decades, the selective synthesis of these catalysts was complicated by the formation of side phases due to the harsh reaction conditions facilitating side phase formation. In 2018, we introduced a mild procedure, which is conservative toward the carbon support and leads to atomically dispersed Fe-N4 site formation at temperatures as low as 80 °C in a wet-chemical step, essentially decoupling the preparation of the N-C backbone from the preparation of the active sites. The key concept therein is the so-called active-site imprinting into the N-C backbone using pyrolytic template ion reactions, allowing for high concentrations of N4 sites resulting in more than 3 at.% of Fe in atomically dispersed phase. Using the same precursor that is used for the preparation of phthalocyanines, we were able to produce atomically-dispersed single-site Fe-N-Cs that consist of tetrapyrrolic FeN4 complexes. The tetrapyrrolic Fe-N-C derivatives are highly active and extraordinary selective electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction. The well-defined and homogeneous active site structure allows to quantify the intrinsic catalytic activity of the materials in acid and base, reveal insights into the electrocatalytic mechanism and to reveal distinct degradation mechanism upon storage and electrochemical cycling. Herein, the general synthetic strategy of active-site imprinted catalysts will be discussed mainly based on both Mg-ion and Zn-ion templating towards “designed” Fe-N-C catalysts. The tetrapyrrolic active sites will be discussed regarding structure, activity, selectivity and durability. This hopefully stimulates a fruitful discussion of the perspectives in the field. T2 - Chemical Engineering Research Seminar of Higgins Group of McMaster University CY - Hamilton, Canada DA - 29.05.2025 KW - Carbon KW - M-N-C KW - Electrocatalysis KW - Fuel cells PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64913 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Menga, D. A1 - Low, J. L. A1 - Li, Y.-S. A1 - Arcon, I. A1 - Koyutürk, B. A1 - Wagner, F. A1 - Ruiz-Zepeda, F. A1 - Gaberscek, M. A1 - Paulus, B. A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick T1 - Resolving the Dilemma of Fe-N-C Catalysts by the Selective Synthesis of Tetrapyrrolic Active Sites via an Imprinting Strategy N2 - Combining the abundance and inexpensiveness of their constituent elements with their atomic dispersion, atomically dispersed Fe−N−C catalysts represent the most promising alternative to precious-metal-based materials in proton Exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Due to the high temperatures involved in their synthesis and the sensitivity of Fe ions toward carbothermal reduction, current synthetic methods are intrinsically limited in type and amount of the desired, catalytically active Fe−N4 sites, and high active site densities have been out of reach (dilemma of Fe−N−C catalysts). We herein identify a paradigm change in the synthesis of Fe−N−C catalysts arising from the developments of other M−N−C single-atom catalysts. Supported by DFT calculations we propose fundamental principles for the synthesis of M−N−C materials. We further exploit the proposed principles in a novel synthetic strategy to surpass the dilemma of Fe−N−C catalysts. The selective formation of tetrapyrrolic Zn−N4 sites in a tailor-made Zn−N−C material is utilized as an active-site imprint for the preparation of a corresponding Fe−N−C catalyst. By successive low- and high-temperature ion exchange reactions, we obtain a phase-pure Fe−N−C catalyst, with a high loading of atomically dispersed Fe (>3 wt %). Moreover, the catalyst is entirely composed of tetrapyrrolic Fe−N4 sites. The density of tetrapyrrolic Fe−N4 sites is more than six times as high as for previously reported tetrapyrrolic single-site Fe−N−C fuel cell catalysts. KW - Fe-N-C catalyst KW - Precious-group metal-free catalyst KW - Tetrapyrrolic active-site KW - Single-site catalyst KW - Fuel cell KW - Carbon materials PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c04884 SN - 1520-5126 VL - 143 IS - 43 SP - 18010 EP - 18019 PB - American Chemical Society AN - OPUS4-53657 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick T1 - Deciphering Structure-Performance Relations of PGM-Free Fe-N-C Electrocatalysts Based on Synthetic Materials Design N2 - Fe-N-C electrocatalysts are very promising alternatives for precious metal-based catalysts for energy conversion reactions.[1-3] Early reports on such materials date back to the 1960´s, when Jasinski pioneered the research based on tetrapyrrolic phthalocyanine macrocycles which were inspired by natural transition metal porphyrin complexes present in enzyme active sites.[3] For decades, the synthesis of these catalysts with a high iron loading was complicated by the formation of side phases due to the harsh reaction conditions facilitating side phase formation. In 2018, we introduced a mild procedure, which is conservative toward the carbon support and leads to active-site formation at low temperatures in a wet-chemical step, essentially decoupling the preparation of the N-C backbone from the preparation of the active sites.[4, 5] The key concept therein is the so-called active-site imprinting into the N-C backbone using pyrolytic template ion reactions.[4][5] Using the same precursor that is used for the preparation of phthalocyanines, we were able not only to produce atomically-dispersed single-phase Fe-N-Cs with a high iron loading, but were also able to selectively form tetrapyrrolic Fe-N4 complexes.[6] The tetrapyrrolic Fe-N-C derivatives are highly active and extraordinary selective electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction. Deconvolution of morphological effects on the performance allowed to quantify the intrinsic catalytic activity of the materials in acidic and alkaline conditions and gives new insights into the reaction mechanism in alkaline.[7, 8] A distinct degradation mechanism upon storage was found for the tetrapyrrolic sites and new insights on degradation upon fuel cell operation could be obtained.[9, 10] Herein, the general synthetic material design strategy for atomically dispersed catalysts will be discussed based on tetrapyrrolic Fe-N-C catalysts, which will be analyzed for their potential as PGM-free fuel cell catalysts. T2 - Research Seminar of National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics CY - Tallinn, Estonia DA - 29.09.2025 KW - Carbon KW - M-N-C KW - Electrocatalysis KW - Fuel cells PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64916 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick T1 - Negative Electrode Ionophoric Core-Shell Carbon for Sodium-Ion Batteries N2 - The current strong interest in electromotive mobility and the need to transition to an energy grid with sustainable storage devices has led to a renewed interest in sodium ion batteries (SIBs). Amorphous disordered carbons such as hard carbons (HCs) are promising candidates for high-capacity negative electrode materials in SIBs. Their high capacities, however, are often accompanied with high irreversible capacity losses during the initial cycles,[1] while low initial losses are accompanied with moderate capacities.[2] In our research we are aiming morphologically and chemically functional carbons. Morphologically, our target is a local separation of reversible sodium storage and irreversible losses in novel synthetic carbon anodes, using a core-shell concept. On chemical side, we aim at ion-binding functional groups. We investigated different methods to obtain core-shell structures to restrict SEI formation to the external particle surface, while leveraging the Na storage potential of porous carbon core materials. Moreover, we apply active-site imprinting to realise disting ion-binding features into the core carbons. The electrochemical performance of those materials can be rather easily altered upon removing/exchanging the ions bound to the functional group. Herein, we will focus on the synthesis of zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) based NDCs. Different analytical methods, e.g., physisorption (N2, Ar, CO2), XPS, XAS, and NMR, will be used to understand the alteration of morphological and chemical features upon ion exchange. T2 - Mat-Sus Spring Meeting 2024 CY - Barcelona, Spain DA - 04.03.2024 KW - Ionophoric carbon PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61938 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick T1 - Design Structure and Performance of FeNC Catalysts N2 - Atomically dispersed M-N-C catalysts such as Fe-N-Cs are most promising alternatives for precious metal-based catalysts for energy conversion reactions.[1-3] Early reports on such materials date back to the 1960´s, when Jasinski pioneered the research based on tetrapyrrolic phthalocyanine macrocycles which were inspired by natural transition metal porphyrin complexes present in enzyme active sites.[3] For decades, the selective synthesis of these catalysts was complicated by the formation of side phases due to the harsh reaction conditions facilitating side phase formation. In 2018, we introduced a mild procedure, which is conservative toward the carbon support and leads to atomically dispersed Fe-N4 site formation at temperatures as low as 80 °C in a wet-chemical step, essentially decoupling the preparation of the N-C backbone from the preparation of the active sites.[4, 5] The key concept therein is the so-called active-site imprinting into the N-C backbone using pyrolytic template ion reactions, allowing for high concentrations of N4 sites resulting in more than 3 at.% of Fe in atomically dispersed phase.[4-6] Using the same precursor that is used for the preparation of phthalocyanines, we were able to produce atomically-dispersed single-site Fe-N-Cs that consist of tetrapyrrolic FeN4 complexes.[6] The tetrapyrrolic Fe-N-C derivatives are highly active and extraordinary selective electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction. The well-defined and homogeneous active site structure allows to quantify the intrinsic catalytic activity of the materials in acid and base,[7, 8] reveal insights into the electrocatalytic mechanism and to reveal distinct degradation mechanism upon storage and electrochemical cycling.[9, 10] Herein, the general synthetic strategy of active-site imprinted catalysts will be discussed mainly based on Zn-ion templating towards tetrapyrrolic Fe-N-C catalysts. The catalytic active sites will be discussed regarding structure, activity, selectivity and durability, hence the potential as fuel cell catalyst. T2 - ECS Spring Meeting 2025 CY - Montreal, Canada DA - 18.05.2025 KW - Fuel Cell KW - ELectrocatalyst KW - Fe-N-C KW - Carbon PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64910 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Koyutürk, B. A1 - Farber, E. A1 - Wagner, F. A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick A1 - Eisenberg, D. T1 - A simple decagram-scale synthesis of an atomically dispersed, hierarchically porous Fe–N–C catalyst for acidic ORR N2 - Carbons doped with iron and nitrogen (Fe–N–Cs) are highly promising electrocatalysts for energy conversion reactions in the oxygen, nitrogen and carbon cycles. Containing no platinum group metals, they nevertheless compete with platinum-based catalysts in crucial fuel cell reactions, such as oxygen reduction in acid. Yet deployment of Fe–N–Cs in fuel cells requires also a flow-enhancing pore structure, and a scalable synthesis procedure – a rarely-met combination of requirements. We now report such a simple synthesis of over 10 g of an Fe–N–C catalyst with high activity towards oxygen reduction in acid. Atomically-dispersed Fe–N4 active sites were designed orthogonally and simultaneously with hierarchical micro-, meso- and macroporosity, by exploiting a dual role of magnesium ions during pyrolysis. Combining the “active site imprinting” and “self-templating” strategies in a single novel magnesium iminodiacetate precursor yielded a catalyst with high specific surface area (SSA > 1600 m2 g−1), a flow-enhancing hierarchical porosity, and high relative abundance of the most desirable D1-type Fe–N4 sites (43%, by Mössbauer spectroscopy at 4.2 K). Despite the relatively low iron contents, the catalysts feature halfwave potentials up to 0.70 V vs. RHE at pH 1 and a mass activity of 1.22 A g−1 at 0.8 V vs. RHE in RDE experiments. Thanks to the simple and scalable synthesis, this active and stable catalyst may serve as a workhorse in academic and industrial research into atomically-dispersed ORR electrocatalysis. KW - Catalysis KW - Fe-N-C catalysts KW - Fuel Cells KW - Electrochemistry PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-550113 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d2ta00925k SN - 2050-7488 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-55011 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Titirici, M. A1 - Baird, S. G. A1 - Sparks, T. D. A1 - Yang, S. M. A1 - Brandt-Talbot, A. A1 - Hosseinaei, O. A1 - Harper, D. P. A1 - Parker, R. M. A1 - Vignolini, S. A1 - Berglund, L. A. A1 - Li, Y. A1 - Gao, H.-L. A1 - Mao, L.-B. A1 - Yu, S.-H. A1 - Díez, N. A1 - Ferrero, G. A. A1 - Sevilla, M. A1 - Szilágyi, P. Á. A1 - Stubbs, C. J. A1 - Worch, J. C. A1 - Huang, Y. A1 - Luscombe, C. K. A1 - Lee, K.-Y. A1 - Luo, H. A1 - Platts, M. J. A1 - Tiwari, D. A1 - Kovalevskiy, D. A1 - Fermin, D. J. A1 - Au, H. A1 - Alptekin, H. A1 - Crespo-Ribadeneyra, M. A1 - Ting, V. P. A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick A1 - Barrio, J. A1 - Westhead, O. A1 - Roy, C. A1 - Stephens, I. E. L. A1 - Nicolae, S. A. A1 - Sarma, S. C. A1 - Oates, R. P. A1 - Wang, C.-G. A1 - Li, Z. A1 - Loh, X. J. A1 - Myers, R. J. A1 - Heeren, N. A1 - Grégoire, A. A1 - Périssé, C. A1 - Zhao, X. A1 - Vodovotz, Y. A1 - Earley, B. A1 - Finnveden, G. A1 - Björklund, A. A1 - Harper, G. D. J. A1 - Walton, A. A1 - Anderson, P. A. T1 - The sustainable materials roadmap N2 - Our ability to produce and transform engineered materials over the past 150 years is responsible for our high standards of living today, especially in the developed economies. Yet, we must carefully think of the effects our addiction to creating and using materials at this fast rate will have on the future generations. The way we currently make and use materials detrimentally affects the planet Earth, creating many severe environmental problems. It affects the next generations by putting in danger the future of economy, energy, and climate. We are at the point where something must drastically change, and it must change NOW. We must create more sustainable materials alternatives using natural raw materials and inspiration from Nature while making sure not to deplete important resources, i.e. in competition with the food chain supply. We must use less materials, eliminate the use of toxic materials and create a circular materials economy where reuse and recycle are priorities. We must develop sustainable methods for materials recycling and encourage design for disassembly. We must look across the whole materials life cycle from raw resources till end of life and apply thorough life cycle assessments based on reliable and relevant data to quantify sustainability. KW - Electrochemistry KW - Fe-N-C catalysts KW - Fuel cells KW - Catalysis PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-550126 DO - https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7639/ac4ee5 SN - 2515-7639 VL - 5 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 98 PB - IOP Publishing CY - Bristol AN - OPUS4-55012 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Menga, Davide A1 - Li, Yan‐Sheng A1 - Damjanović, Ana Marija A1 - Proux, Olivier A1 - Wagner, Friedrich E. A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick A1 - Gasteiger, Hubert A. A1 - Piana, Michele T1 - On the Stability of an Atomically‐Dispersed Fe−N−C ORR Catalyst: An In Situ XAS Study in a PEMFC N2 - The stability of Fe−N−C oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts has been considered a primary challenge for their practical application in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). While several studies have attempted to reveal the possible degradation mechanism of Fe−N−C ORR catalysts, there are few research results reporting on their stability as well as the possible Fe species formed under different voltages in real PEMFC operation. In this work, we employ in‐situ X‐ray absorption near‐edge structure (XANES) to monitor the active‐site degradation byproducts of an atomically dispersed Fe−N−C ORR catalyst under a H2/O2‐operating PEMFC at 90 % relative humidity and 80 °C. For this, stability tests were carried out at two constant cell voltages, namely 0.4 and at 0.8 V. Even though the ORR activity of the Fe−N−C catalyst decreased significantly and was almost identical at the end of the tests for the two voltages employed, the analysis of the XANES recorded under H2/N2 configuration at 0.6 and 0.9 V within the stability test suggests that two different degradation mechanisms occur. They are demetalation of iron cations followed by their precipitation into Fe oxides upon operation at 0.8 V, versus a chemical carbon oxidation close to the active sites, likely triggered by reactive oxygen species (ROS) originated from the H2O2 formation, during the operation at 0.4 V. KW - PGM-free catalysts PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-638981 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/celc.202400228 SN - 2196-0216 VL - 11 IS - 18 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - Wiley VHC-Verlag AN - OPUS4-63898 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rappsilber, Tim A1 - Yusfi, Nawar A1 - Krüger, Simone A1 - Hahn, S.-K. A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick A1 - Krug von Nidda, Jonas A1 - Tschirschwitz, Rico T1 - Meta-analysis of heat release and smoke gas emission during thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries N2 - Herein a meta-analysis of 76 experimental research papers from 2000 to 2021 is given about possible effects on the thermal runaway of lithium-ion battery cells. Data on the hazards of gas emissions and released heat are related to each other and differentiated by cell properties such as, cell geometry, cathode type or state of charge. Quantitative information on the total heat release in the range of 2.0–112.0 kJ Wh−1, the peak heat release rate in the range of 0.006–2.8 kW Wh−1and the smoke gas emission were extracted, normalized in terms of cell energy (Wh), combined in a data library and compared graphically. The total amount of gas emitted (3–48 mmol Wh−1) as well as the released amount of carbon monoxide (1–161 mg Wh−1) and hydrogen fluoride (2–197 mg Wh−1) were investigated as a function of the state of charge and cell geometry. The analysis reveals that the measured values are significantly influenced by the types of calorimeters and smoke gas analyzers used as well as by the type of thermal runaway trigger. This meta-analysis can serve as an important basis for any risk assessment of lithium-ion batteries. KW - Lithium-ion battery KW - Thermal runaway KW - Cathode active material KW - Heat release KW - Smoke gas emission PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-568071 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2022.106579 SN - 2352-152X VL - 60 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-56807 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Menga, D. A1 - Low, Jian Liang A1 - de Oliveira 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 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 SN - 1614-6832 VL - 2024 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Wiley-VCH AN - OPUS4-60623 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -