Isolated Fe Single Atomic Sites Anchored on Highly Steady Hollow Graphene Nanospheres as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract The rational design of economical and high‐performance nanocatalysts to substitute Pt for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is extremely desirable for the advancement of sustainable energy‐conversion devices. Isolated single atom (ISA) catalysts have sparked tremendous interests in electrocatalysis due to their maximized atom utilization efficiency. Nevertheless, the fabrication of ISA catalysts remains a grand challenge. Here, a template‐assisted approach is demonstrated to synthesize isolated Fe single atomic sites anchoring on graphene hollow nanospheres (denoted as Fe ISAs/GHSs) by using Fe phthalocyanine (FePc) as Fe precursor. The rigid planar macrocycle structure of FePc molecules and the steric‐hindrance effect of graphene nanospheres are responsible for the dispersion of Fe–N x species at an atomic level. The combination of atomically dispersed Fe active sites and highly steady hollow substrate affords the Fe ISAs/GHSs outstanding ORR performance with enhanced activity, long‐term stability, and better tolerance to methanol, SO 2 , and NO x in alkaline medium, outperforming the state‐of‐the‐art commercial Pt/C catalyst. This work highlights the great promises of cost‐effective Fe‐based ISA catalysts in electrocatalysis and provides a versatile strategy for the synthesis of other single metal atom catalysts with superior performance for diverse applications.