N-doped La2Zr2O7 as an enhanced electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Nitrogen shows a positive influence on the ORR activity of certain catalysts, such as N-doped carbon and N-doped ZrO 2 . In this paper, we report a method to dope nitrogen into La 2 Zr 2 O 7 nanoparticles by the sol-gel process combined with ammonolysis. XPS results indicate that the nitrogen content in La 2 Zr 2 O 7 is approximately 0.92 at.%. Compared to the ORR activity of La 2 Zr 2 O 7 , ORR activity of the N-doped La 2 Zr 2 O 7 is considerably enhanced. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that the band gap is reduced in N-doped La 2 Zr 2 O 7 , which may be one of the factors that contribute to the improvement.