Densely populated macrocyclic dicobalt sites in ladder polymers for low-overpotential oxygen reduction catalysis

Dual-atom catalysts featuring synergetic dinuclear active sites, have the potential of breaking the linear scaling relationship of the well-established single-atom catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction; however, the design of dual-atom catalysts with rationalized local microenvironment for high activity and selectivity remains a great challenge. Here we design a bisalphen ladder polymer with well-defined densely populated binuclear cobalt sites on Ketjenblack substrates. The strong electron coupling effect between the fully-conjugated ladder structure and carbon substrates enhances the electron transfer between the cobalt center and oxygen intermediates, inducing the low-to-high spin transition for the 3d…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 21674068, 2021YFH0180
• DO
  Department of Science and Technology of Sichuan Province

  Award: 2024YFHZ0349