Bimetallic oxynitride-Co single atom composite electrocatalyst synergistically improve oxygen reduction reaction in wide pH range

The lack of high performance and low cost oxygen reduction electrocatalysts, especially operating in the wide pH range, is one of the key obstacles restricting the large-scale applications of new energy conversion technologies such as fuel cells and metal-air batteries. In this work, based on the synthesis mechanism of conventional polymer-derived carbon materials, a bimetallic oxy-nitride (Co_mTi_nO_xN_y)-Co single atom (Co-NC) composite catalyst was prepared by an associated hydrothermal polymerization-pyrolysis method through selecting suitable precursor molecules and simultaneously introducing TiO₂ nanoparticle in the process of polymerization. The bimetallic cobalt-titanium oxy-nitride Co-NC composite catalyst exhibits better ORR activity in a wide pH range (0−13) than the conresponding pure N-doped carbon nanotubes, titanium oxy-nitride/N-CNTs and Co-NC catalysts, providing a new idea for the development of ORR electrocatalysts with high performance and low cost.