Nitrogen-doped carbon-encapsulated SmFeOx bimetallic nanoparticles as high-performance electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction

• Background. In the current situation of energy scarcity, it is necessary to develop and design materials containing rare earth elements as electrocatalysts to solve the current problems such as energy scarcity in the society. • Methods: This work describes the fabrication of bimetallic oxide doped carbon-nitrogen containing (SmFeOx@NC-x) electrocatalysts by coating the template g-C 3 N 4 with bimetallic oxide and then pyrolysis. • Significant findings: Samarium f-layers with strong coordination of the empty orbitals can induce a synergistic effect with Fe and exhibit excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance. It also shows good power and energy densities and stability in Zn-Air batteries. In the current situation of energy scarcity, it is necessary to develop and design materials containing rare earth elements as electrocatalysts to solve the current problems such as energy scarcity in the society. This work describes the fabrication of bimetallic oxide doped carbon-nitrogen containing (SmFeOx@NC-x) electrocatalysts by coating the template g-C 3 N 4 with bimetallic oxide and then pyrolysis. Samarium f-layers with strong coordination of the empty orbitals can induce a synergistic effect with Fe and exhibit excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance. It also shows good power and energy densities and stability in Zn-Air batteries.