Atomically dispersed dinuclear iridium active sites for efficient and stable electrocatalytic chlorine evolution reaction

Abstract

The electrochemical chlorine evolution reaction (CER) is a critical anode reaction in chlor-alkali electrolysis. Although precious metal-based mixed metal oxides (MMOs) have long been used as CER catalysts, they suffer from high cost and poor selectivity due to the competing oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Single-atom catalysts (SACs), featuring high atom utilization efficiency, have captured widespread interest in diverse applications. However, the single-atom sites in SACs are generally recognized as independent motifs and the interplay of adjacent sites is largely overlooked. Herein, we report a “precursor-preselected” cage-encapsulated strategy to synthesize atomically dispersed dinuclear iridium active sites bridged by oxygen that are supported on nitrogen-doped carbon (Ir₂-ONC). The dinuclear Ir₂-ONC catalyst exhibits a CER onset potential of 1.375 V vs. normal hydrogen electrode, a high faradaic efficiency of >95%, and a high mass activity of 14321.6 A g_Ir⁻¹, much better than the Ir SACs, which demonstrates the significance of coordination and electronic structure regulation for atomically dispersed catalysts. Density functional theory calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations confirm that the unique dinuclear structure facilitates Cl⁻ adsorption, resulting in improved catalytic CER performance.