Abstract: Developing low-cost yet efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts is of paramount importance for the widespread application of renewable energy technologies. Here, a promising catalyst of the Co–Ni nanoalloy–organic framework (Co–Ni NOF) that significantly accelerates the ORR kinetics process has been synthesized by a straightforward pyrolysis strategy. This Co–Ni NOF catalyst with robust stability and strong methanol tolerance exhibits remarkable ORR activity with an excellent half-wave potential of 0.88 V (30 mV superior to that of commercial Pt/C) and an outstanding kinetic current density of 162.9 mA/cm2 at 0.80 V in 0.1 M KOH, which is 17 times that of Pt/C and outperforms most non-noble catalysts reported so far. The electronic structure characterizations demonstrate that the alloying of Co–Ni could optimize the intrinsic charge distribution of the Co–Ni NOF catalyst and thus motivates the charge transfer kinetics for the oxygen reduction process. This work provides some useful insights into the design of novel highly active non-noble metal catalysts for ORR.

Zhou W, Su H, Shen S, et al. Co–Ni Nanoalloy–Organic Framework Electrocatalysts with Ultrahigh Electron Transfer Kinetics for Efficient Oxygen Reduction. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2020;8(17):6898-6904. doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c02271