Curvature-induced metal-support interaction regulates Co-N
6 affiliations
- 1Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), Nanjing 210042, China; International Innovation Center for Forest Chemicals and Materials, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
- 2International Innovation Center for Forest Chemicals and Materials, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
- 3Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), Nanjing 210042, China; College of Science, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China; Corresponding authors.
- 4College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
- 5Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), Nanjing 210042, China; Corresponding authors.
- 6Department of Energy Science and Engineering, DGIST, Daegu 42988, Republic of Korea; Corresponding authors.
Abstract
Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have advantages such as high atom utilization and well-defined active sites, and have been extensively studied in the field of oxygen electrocatalysis. However, current strategies for tuning the M-N 4 configurations predominantly focus on local coordination environments, which still makes it difficult to simultaneously optimize the balance of adsorption energies of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) intermediates. Herein, a Zn volatilization-induced pyrolysis strategy is developed to construct Co-N 4 sites coupled with Co nanoparticles on curved N-doped biomass-derived carbon (Co NPs + SA @NC). The intrinsic curvature and defect-rich structure induce lattice distortion and electronic polarization, significantly enhancing the metal-support interaction (MSI). This curvature-enhanced MSI triggers electronic reconstruction and symmetry breaking of Co-N 4 sites, narrowing the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) gap and facilitating electron transfer. Meanwhile, the influence of adjacent Co nanoparticles optimizes the electronic structure of Co-N 4 , improving the adsorption-desorption capacity of intermediates in the OER process. Therefore, the half-wave potential required to achieve ORR was 0.87 V, and the overpotential required to reach a current density of 10 mA/cm 2 is only 290 mV. A zinc-air battery (ZAB) based on Co NPs + SA @NC exhibited a high peak power density of 172 mW/cm 2 . This work highlights curvature-mediated MSI as an effective strategy for controlling single-atom configurations and advancing biomass-derived electrocatalysts.
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BibTeX
@article{zhou2026curvatureinduced,
title = {{Curvature-induced metal-support interaction regulates Co-N}},
author = {Limin Zhou and Mengmeng Fan and Yanyan Liu and Shuling Liu and Guozheng Dong and Ao Wang and Jong-Min Lee and Kang Sun and Baojun Li},
journal = {Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.jobab.2026.100297},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobab.2026.100297},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Curvature-induced metal-support interaction regulates Co-N
AU - Limin Zhou
AU - Mengmeng Fan
AU - Yanyan Liu
AU - Shuling Liu
AU - Guozheng Dong
AU - Ao Wang
AU - Jong-Min Lee
AU - Kang Sun
AU - Baojun Li
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/25
JO - Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts
DO - 10.1016/j.jobab.2026.100297
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobab.2026.100297
AB - Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have advantages such as high atom utilization and well-defined active sites, and have been extensively studied in the field of oxygen electrocatalysis. However, current strategies for tuning the M-N 4 configurations predominantly focus on local coordination environments, which still makes it difficult to simultaneously optimize the balance of adsorption energies of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) intermediates. Herein, a Zn volatilization-induced pyrolysis strategy is developed to construct Co-N 4 sites coupled with Co nanoparticles on curved N-doped biomass-derived carbon (Co NPs + SA @NC). The intrinsic curvature and defect-rich structure induce lattice distortion and electronic polarization, significantly enhancing the metal-support interaction (MSI). This curvature-enhanced MSI triggers electronic reconstruction and symmetry breaking of Co-N 4 sites, narrowing the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) gap and facilitating electron transfer. Meanwhile, the influence of adjacent Co nanoparticles optimizes the electronic structure of Co-N 4 , improving the adsorption-desorption capacity of intermediates in the OER process. Therefore, the half-wave potential required to achieve ORR was 0.87 V, and the overpotential required to reach a current density of 10 mA/cm 2 is only 290 mV. A zinc-air battery (ZAB) based on Co NPs + SA @NC exhibited a high peak power density of 172 mW/cm 2 . This work highlights curvature-mediated MSI as an effective strategy for controlling single-atom configurations and advancing biomass-derived electrocatalysts.
SN - 2369-9698
ER -