Integrating single-cobalt-site and electric field of boron nitride in dechlorination electrocatalysts by bioinspired design

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20619-w
• Publication Date: 2021-01-12T18:36:08Z
• Authors: Yuan Min; Xiao Zhou; Jie-Jie Chen; Wenxing Chen; Fangyao Zhou; Zhiyuan Wang; Jia Yang; Can Xiong; Ying Wang; Fengting Li; Han-Qing Yu; Yuen Wu
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; Science; Q; 7. Clean energy; Article

AbstractThe construction of enzyme-inspired artificial catalysts with enzyme-like active sites and microenvironment remains a great challenge. Herein, we report a single-atomic-site Co catalyst supported by carbon doped boron nitride (BCN) with locally polarized B–N bonds (Co SAs/BCN) to simulate the reductive dehalogenases. Density functional theory analysis suggests that the BCN supports, featured with ionic characteristics, provide additional electric field effect compared with graphitic carbon or N-doped carbon (CN), which could facilitate the adsorption of polarized organochlorides. Consistent with the theoretical results, the Co SAs/BCN catalyst delivers a high activity with nearly complete dechlorination (~98%) at a potential of −0.9 V versus Ag/AgCl for chloramphenicol (CAP), showing that the rate constant (k) contributed by unit mass of metal (k/ratio) is 4 and 19 times more active than those of the Co SAs/CN and state-of-the-art Pd/C catalyst, respectively. We show that Co single atoms coupled with BCN host exhibit high stability and selectivity in CAP dechlorination and suppress the competing hydrogen evolution reaction, endowing the Co SAs/BCN as a candidate for sustainable conversion of organic chloride.