Framework-Derived Tungsten Single-Atom Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

For many types of fuel cells (FCs), the electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is the bottleneck reaction. At present, a major challenge to the industrialization of these devices is attributed to the high price and inferior stability of the common platinum group metal (PGM) catalysts. To address this issue, a zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) derived tungsten (W) single-atom electrocatalyst has been synthesized and evaluated for the ORR. It was found that the prepared catalyst (W–N–C) possesses a W single-atom catalysis center coordinated in a nitrogen-rich carbon matrix with a half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.86 V and a negligible current decay over a long-term durability test, which surpass those of many reported nonprecious metals and even commercial Pt/C catalysts.