Single atomic Co coordinated with N in microporous carbon for oxygen reduction reaction obtained from Co/2-methylimidazole anchored to Y zeolite as a template

Zeolite-templated carbons (ZTCs) composed of curved and single-layer graphene frameworks have uniform micropores (ca. 1.2 nm) and high surface areas (~4,000 m2/g). Owing to their outstanding properties originating from the porous structures, ZTCs have been used in many applications. In this work, we synthesized Co/N-doped ZTC (Co/N-ZTC) by complexing Co ion with 2-methylimidazole in Y zeolite to expand further utilization of ZTCs. The obtained Co/N-ZTC has a high surface area (ca. 2,000 m2/g) and single atomic Co species in CoNx moieties, which actually contributes to its excellent catalytic performance on oxygen reduction reaction. This synthetic concept is beneficial to fabricate single atomic transition metals coordinated with heteroatoms in ZTCs, which contributes to the progress of material design of single atomic catalyst–supported porous materials. A part of this work was supported by “Advanced Characterization Nanotechnology Platform, Nanotechnology Platform Program of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan, Grant Number JPMXP09A20OS0024 at the Research Center for Ultra-High Voltage Electron Microscopy (Nanotechnology Open Facilities) in Osaka University. In particular, Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope measurement was supported by Dr. Kazuhisa Sato.