Uncovering the effect of lattice strain and atomic-scale cavity deficiency on the efficient oxygen reduction of a PdW bimetallene

Abstract

Optimizing the adsorption of oxygen-containing intermediates by regulating the electronic structure to enhance the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) activity of catalysts is crucial. In this article, the coupled effects of tensile strain and atomic-scale cavity (ASC) defects on the ORR activity of a d-PdW bimetallene are investigated. The d-PdW exhibits excellent ORR performance with a half-wave potential as high as 0.96 V (vs. RHE) and mass activity of 5.2 A mg_catalyst⁻¹ at 0.9 V. X-ray absorption characterizations and DFT calculations were used to explain the reasons for the good performance.