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Bioinspired Transition‐Metal Complexes as Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction
Author(s) -
Zhao YeMin,
Yu GuoQiang,
Wang FeiFei,
Wei PingJie,
Liu JinGang
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201803764
Subject(s) - oxygen reduction reaction , catalysis , electrocatalyst , transition metal , cobalt , oxygen reduction , nanotechnology , chemistry , combinatorial chemistry , copper , materials science , energy transformation , inorganic chemistry , electrochemistry , organic chemistry , electrode , physics , thermodynamics
The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is one of the most important reactions in life processes and energy conversion systems. To alleviate global warming and the energy crisis, the development of high‐performance electrocatalysts for the ORR for application in energy conversion and storage devices such as metal–air batteries and fuel cells is highly desirable. Inspired by the biological oxygen activation/reduction process associated with heme‐ and multicopper‐containing metalloenzymes, iron and copper‐based transition‐metal complexes have been extensively explored as ORR electrocatalysts. Herein, an outline into recent progress on non‐precious‐metal electrocatalysts for the ORR is provided; these electrocatalysts do not require pyrolysis treatment, which is regarded as desirable from the viewpoint of bioinspired molecular catalyst design, focusing on iron/cobalt macrocycles (porphyrins, phthalocyanines, and corroles) and copper complexes in which the ORR activity is tuned by ligand variation/substitution, the method of catalyst immobilization, and the underlying supporting materials. Current challenges and exciting imminent developments in bioinspired ORR electrocatalysts are summarized and proposed.