Nitrogen coordinated atomically dispersed manganese catalyzes oxygen reduction in practical zinc-air batteries and alkaline fuel cells

A fundamental strategy for reducing reliance on expensive platinum group metals is to increase the fraction of surface atoms and improve dispersion on the conductive support. Herein, we proposed an electrospinning technique for the synthesis of atomically dispersed Mn-N_x on nitrogen doped porous three-dimensional carbon nanofibers via urea assisted thermal treatment. As a result of sophisticated topographical structure and atomic level composition design, Mn-N_x-PC exhibited enhanced ORR activity with a half-wave potential of 0.79 V, and pronounced stability (7.5% decay after 100 h). DFT studies showed that the ORR on a Mn-N_x-PC is governed by thermodynamically favorable pathways, activating the O-O cleavage, which is decisive for 4e− transfer during reduction. Impressively, Mn-N_x-PC based zinc-air battery and AEMFC showed high OCV values, power density, and excellent durability. This work provides a guide for the large-scale fabrication of Pt-compatible ORR electrocatalysts for commercial applications.