Outstanding Oxygen Reduction Reaction Activity Research Articles

Main Group SnN4O Single Sites with Optimized Charge Distribution for Boosting the Oxygen Reduction Reaction.

Transition metal single-atom catalysts (SACs) have been regarded as possible alternatives to platinum-based materials due to their satisfactory performance of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). By contrast, main-group metal elements are rarely studied due to their unfavorable surface and electronic states. Herein, a main-group Sn-based SAC with penta-coordinated and asymmetric first-shell ligands is reported as an efficient and robust ORR catalyst. The introduction of the vertical oxygen atom breaks the symmetric charge balance, modulating the binding strength to oxygen intermediates and decreasing the energy barrier for the ORR process. As expected, the prepared Sn SAC exhibits outstanding ORR activity with a high half-wave potential of 0.912 V (vs RHE) and an excellent mass activity of 13.1 A mgSn-1 at 0.850 V (vs RHE), which surpasses that of commercial Pt/C and most reported transition-metal-based SACs. Additionally, the reported Sn SAC shows excellent ORR stability due to the strong interaction between Sn sites and the carbon support with oxygen atom as the bridge. The excellent ORR performance of Sn SAC was also proven by both liquid- and solid-state zinc-air battery (ZAB) measurements, indicating its great potential in practical applications.

Highly Curved Defect Sites: How Curvature Effect Influences Metal-Free Defective Carbon Electrocatalysts.

Topological defects are widely recognized as effective active sites toward a variety of electrochemical reactions. However, the role of defect curvature is still not fully understood. Herein, carbon nanomaterials with rich topological defect sites of tunable curvature is reported. The curved defective surface is realized by controlling the high-temperature pyrolytic shrinkage process of precursors. Theoretical calculations demonstrate bending the defect sites can change the local electronic structure, promote the charge transfer to key intermediates, and lower the energy barrier for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Experimental results convince structural superiority of highly-curved defective sites, with a high kinetic current density of 22.5mAcm-2 at 0.8V versus RHE for high-curvature defective carbon (HCDC), ≈18 times that of low-curvature defective carbon (LCDC). Further raising the defect densities in HCDC leads to the dual-regulated products (HCHDC), which exhibit exceptionally outstanding ORR activity in both alkaline and acidic media (half-wave potentials: 0.88 and 0.74V), outperforming most of the reported metal-free carbon catalysts. This work uncovers the curvature-activity relationship in carbon defect for ORR and provides new guidance to design advanced catalysts via curvature-engineering.

Near-range modulation of single-atomic Fe sites by simultaneously integrating heteroatom and nanocluster for efficient oxygen reduction

Modulation strategies are widely developed to regulate electronic state of single-atom catalysts (SACs) to reinforce the catalytic activity of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, the modulation effect using only single coordination regulation is often insufficient to optimize the electronic and geometric structure of metal active centers. Herein, a general strategy to modify the activity of single-atomic Fe site is achieved by dual decoration of Fe centers with contiguous sulfur atoms and metal nanoclusters via an aggregation-redispersion route. Under near-range engagement, the adjacent S atoms and Fe nanoclusters can break the symmetric electronic interface of Fe-N moiety, and act as the modulators to synergistically tune the electronic configurations of Fe centers, leading to less electron transfer to *OH, and subsequent favorable desorption. In situ spectroscopic characterization and theoretical results reinforces the significant roles of S atoms and metal clusters in tandem by correlating their induced electron redistribution with ORR activity, which ultimately accelerates the adsorption/desorption of oxygenated intermediates for robust catalytic performance. Due to the improvement of graphitization degree, carbon supports possess efficient active sites and exhibit superior anti-corrosion. The resultant FeNC-2 M demonstrates outstanding ORR activity with high power density, maintaining remarkable durability in Zn-air batteries and microbial fuel cells. This work provides effective and universal way to modulate microenvironment of single metal sites, facilitating the open up of potential application spaces for various SACs.

The manipulation of rectifying contact of Co and nitrogen‐doped carbon hierarchical superstructures toward high‐performance oxygen reduction reaction

AbstractRational design and construction of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts with high activity, good stability, and low price are essential for the practical applications of renewable energy conversion devices, such as metal‐air batteries. Electronic modification through constructing metal/semiconductor Schottky heterointerface represents a powerful strategy to enhance the electrochemical performance. Herein, we demonstrate a concept of Schottky electrocatalyst composed of uniform Co nanoparticles in situ anchored on the carbon nanotubes aligned on the carbon nanosheets (denoted as Co@N‐CNTs/NSs hereafter) toward ORR. Both experimental findings and theoretical simulation testify that the rectifying contact could impel the voluntary electron flow from Co to N‐CNTs/NSs and create an internal electric field, thereby boosting the electron transfer rate and improving the intrinsic activity. As a consequence, the Co@N‐CNTs/NSs deliver outstanding ORR activity, impressive long‐term durability, excellent methanol tolerance, and good performance as the air‐cathode in the Zn‐air batteries. The design concept of Schottky contact may provide the innovational inspirations for the synthesis of advanced catalysts in sustainable energy conversion fields.

Encaging Co nanoparticle in atomic Co[sbnd]N4-dispersed graphite nanopocket evokes high oxygen reduction activity for flexible Zn-air battery

Rational design of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts with indestructible active sites for high-performance Zn-air batteries (ZABs) remains a significant challenge. Herein, we achieve an innovative active site design by encaging Co nanoparticles within the Co−N4 atomic sites-dispersed graphite nanopocket (CoSAs-NPs/NC), leading to outstanding alkaline ORR activity and stability, and consequently ultra-high power density of 193.8 mW cm–2 and specific capacity of 819.1 mAh gZn–1 at 10 mA cm–2 of a primary ZAB assembled, along with impressive power density of 73.4 mW cm–2 and charging/discharging stability up to 110 cycles of a flexible solid-state ZAB. Theoretical calculations unveil the enhanced ORR kinetics can be traced to the significantly optimized local electronic structure of Co−N4 sites with upshifted d-band center and reduced energy barrier of rate-limiting step by the encaged Co nanoparticle. This study showcases a creative conformational design for guiding the construction of valid synergy in hybridized metal/single-atom catalysts.

Construction of Fe Nanoclusters/Nanoparticles to Engineer FeN4 Sites on Multichannel Porous Carbon Fibers for Boosting Oxygen Reduction Reaction

AbstractFe–N–C catalysts are emerging as promising alternatives to Pt‐based catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), while they still suffer from sluggish reaction kinetics due to the discontented binding affinity between the Fe‐N4 sites and oxygen‐containing intermediates, and unsatisfactory stability. Herein, a flexible multichannel carbon fiber membrane immobilized with atomically dispersed Fe‐N4 sites and neighboring Fe nanoclusters/nanoparticles (FeN4‐FeNCP@MCF) is synthesized. The optimized geometric and electronic structures of the Fe atomic sites brought by adjacent Fe nanoclusters/nanoparticles and hierarchically porous structure of the carbon matrix endow FeN4‐FeNCP@MCF with outstanding ORR activity and stability, considerably outperforming its counterpart with FeN4 sites only and the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Liquid and solid‐state flexible zinc–air batteries employing FeN4‐FeNCP@MCF both exhibit outstanding durability. Theoretical calculation reveals that the Fe nanoclusters can trigger remarkable electron redistribution of the FeN4 sites and modulate the hybridization of central Fe 3d and O 2p orbitals, facilitating the activation of O2 molecules and optimizing the adsorption capacity of oxygen‐containing intermediates on FeN4 sites, and thus accelerating the ORR kinetic. This work offers an effective approach to constructing coupling catalysts that have single atoms coexisting with nanoclusters/nanoparticles for efficient ORR catalysis.

A TiC@TiO2‐C Support for Pt Catalysts to Boost the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

AbstractThe design of advanced supports to boost the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in acidic media is of great significance for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Herein, TiC@TiO2‐C supports are prepared by the sol–gel method coupled with high‐temperature annealing. The obtained Pt/TiC@TiO2‐C catalyst exhibits outstanding ORR activity such as the half‐wave potential of 0.84 VRHE as well as strong electrochemical stability in 0.1 m HClO4 electrolyte, surpassing the Pt/TiO2‐C and Pt/C catalyst. This result is attributed to the electron transfer from the support to Pt nanoparticles accelerated by the TiC core, which optimizes the electronic structure of Pt to boost the ORR.

Engineering FeCo Dual Sites on Tube-on-Plate Hollow Structure for Efficient Oxygen Electroreduction.

Atomically dispersed single-atom catalysts are intriguing catalysts in the field of electrocatalysis for nearly 100% exploitation of metal atoms. However, they are still far from practical usage due to the scaling relationship limit and metal loading limit. Generation of a diatomic complex would offer superior catalytic performance through the cooperation of two neighboring atoms as active sites. Herein, Fe/Co dual atomic sites embedded in a tube-on-plate hollow structure are designed and fabricated for an efficient electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The unique structure composed of ultrathin nanotube building blocks dramatically maximizes the surface area for copious active site exposure. Thanks to the synergetic interaction between Fe/Co pairs, the obtained FeCo/NC exhibits outstanding ORR activity and stability in alkaline media. Furthermore, density functional theory calculations have revealed that the remarkable activity is attributed to the electron-deficient Fe sites in FeCoN6. This work may pave the way for the innovative design of highly dispersed dual-site catalysts for broader applications in the realm of electrochemical catalysis.

Yttrium Oxide Nanoclusters Boosted Fe‐N4 and Fe4N Electrocatalyst for Future Zinc–Air Battery

AbstractAtomically distributed transition metal coordinated with nitrogen is considered as a class of promising oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst. However, the challenge of ineffective distribution of Fe‐Nx active sites have been long existing, leading to low active site density and unstable performance, which needs be overcome for next generation ORR electrocatalysts. Herein, yttrium (Y) is introduced into atomically dispersed iron (Fe) nitrogen co‐doped carbon materials to integrate nanoparticles, nanoclusters, and atomic sites, which endow the Fe‐N4‐Y2O3 and Fe4N0.94‐Y2O3 (FeY‐NC) with outstanding ORR activity. The FeY‐NC achieves half‐wave potential of 0.926 and 0.809 V in alkaline and acidic condition, respectively. The kinetics current density at 0.9 V in alkaline condition is 31.2 mA cm−2, which is 7.8 times of Fe‐NC and 32.4 times of Pt/C. This outstanding activity of FeY‐NC is enabled by the generated atomic FeN4 and Fe4N nanoparticles dual active‐sites, and further the synergistic effect between the Fe‐Nx/Fe4N0.94 with Y2O3 nanoclusters are loaded on nitrogen‐doped carbon (NC) network. The superior performance of FeY‐NC is demonstrated in a primary Zinc‐air battery, deliver a peak power density of 233 mW cm−2.

Sr-deficient medium-entropy Sr1-xCo0.5Fe0.2Ti0.1Ta0.1Nb0.1O3-δ cathodes with high Cr tolerance for solid oxide fuel cells

In this work, Sr-deficiency is proposed as an effective strategy to improve the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and Cr tolerance of medium-entropy Sr1-xCo0.5Fe0.2Ti0.1Ta0.1Nb0.1O3-δ (S1-xCFTTN, x=0–0.15) cathodes for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs). With proper Sr-deficiency, S0.95CFTTN possesses the highest electrical conductivity and fastest oxygen exchange kinetics within tested samples. The optimized cathode yields outstanding ORR activity with a polarization resistance of 0.024 Ω cm2 at 700 °C, much lower than 0.037 Ω cm2 for SCFTTN cathode. Based on these, an anode-supported cell with S0.95CFTTN cathode exhibits a peak power density of 1153.5 mW cm−2 at 800 °C, much higher than that with SCFTTN cathode. Moreover, the S0.95CFTTN cathode displays dramatically enhanced Cr tolerance ability, which is due to the Sr-deficient diminishes surface Sr segregation and subsequent the formation of SrCrO4. Our results indicate appropriate Sr-deficiency is an effective approach to enhance the ORR activity and stability of SOFC cathodes.

Controlled construction of core-shell structured Prussian Blue analogues towards enhanced oxygen reduction.

Metal-organic frameworks-based electrocatalysts have been developed as highly desirable and promising candidates for catalyzing oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which, however, usually need to be prepared at elevated temperatures and may suffer from the framework collapse in water environment largely preventing its industrial application. Herein, we demonstrate a facile low-temperature ion exchange method to synthesize Mn and Fe co-loaded Prussian blue analogues possessing core-shell structured frameworks and favorable water-tolerance. Among the catalysts prepared, the optimal HMPB-2.6Mn shows a high ORR electrocatalytic performance featuring a half-wave potential of 0.86 V and zinc-air battery power density of 119 mW cm-2, as well as negligible degradation up to 60 h, which are comparable to commercial Pt/C. Such an excellent electrocatalytic performance is attributed to the special core-shell-like structure with Mn concentrated in outer shell, and the synergetic interactions between Mn and Fe, endowing HMPB-Mn with outstanding ORR activity and good stability.

Atomically dispersed Fe sites on hierarchically porous carbon nanoplates for oxygen reduction reaction

Developing cost-effective, robust and stable non-precious metal catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of paramount importance for electrochemical energy conversion devices such as fuel cells and metal-air batteries. Although Fe-N-C single atom catalysts (SACs) have been hailed as the most promising candidate due to the optimal binding strength of ORR intermediates on the Fe-N4 sites, they suffer from serious mass transport limitations as microporous templates/substrates, i.e., zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), are usually employed to host the active sites. Motivated by this challenge, we herein develop a hydrogen-bonded organic framework (HOF)-assisted pyrolysis strategy to construct hierarchical micro/mesoporous carbon nanoplates for the deposition of atomically dispersed Fe-N4 sites. Such a design is accomplished by employing HOF nanoplates assembled from 2-aminoterephthalic acid (NH2-BDC) and p-phenylenediamine (PDA) as both soft templates and C, N precursors. Benefitting from the structural merits inherited from HOF templates, the optimized catalyst (denoted as Fe-N-C SAC-950) displays outstanding ORR activity with a high half-wave potential of 0.895 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)) and a small overpotential of 356 mV at 10 mA cm−2 for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). More excitingly, its application potential is further verified by delivering superb rechargeability and cycling stability with a nearly unfading charge–discharge gap of 0.72 V after 160 h. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations reveal that micro/mesoporous structure is conducive to the rapid mass transfer of O2, thus enhancing the ORR performance. In situ Raman results further indicate that the conversion of O2 to *O2− the rate-determining step (RDS) for Fe-N-C SAC-950. This work will provide a versatile strategy to construct single atom catalysts with desirable catalytic properties.

Co3Fe7/CoCx nanoparticles encapsulated in nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes synergistically promote the oxygen reduction reaction in Zn-air batteries

Efficient and stable non-precious metal catalysts (NPMCs) for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are crucial for the advancement of Zn-air batteries. Herein, we report a supramolecular self-scarifying template and confinement pyrolysis strategy to obtain an efficient ORR catalyst of well-dispersed Co3Fe7/CoCx heterostructure nanoparticles encapsulated by nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (Co3Fe7/CoCx@N-CNT). The as-synthesized Co3Fe7/CoCx@N-CNT catalyst exhibited outstanding ORR activity, with a half-wave potential of 0.88 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode, and good stability. The Zn-air battery based on the Co3Fe7/CoCx@N-CNT cathode achieved a peak power density of 265 mW cm−2 and a durability of over 200 h, which is superior to most reported NPMCs and even the Pt/C counterpart. The physical characterization and electrochemical poisoning experiments revealed that the Co3Fe7/CoCx nanoparticles in the core along with pyridine N and Fe–Nx hosted in the carbon nanotube all acted as active sites for the ORR. Further theoretical calculations showed that the charge redistribution between the Co3Fe7/CoCx nanoparticles and the Fe–Nx carbon overlayers downshifted the d-band center of Fe and optimized the adsorption ability, which boosted the ORR kinetics. This work provides an effective strategy to synthesize non-precious metal ORR catalysts with multiple active sites and highlights the synergistic role of encapsulated nanoparticles and carbon support.

Facile graphene quantum dot-anchoring strategy synthesis of single-atom iron-nitrogen electrocatalyst with enhanced ORR performance

Single-atom catalysts (SACs), especially atomically dispersed Fe–N[Formula: see text]–C based SACs, hold great promise to replace Pt-based electrocatalysts for oxygen-reduction reaction (ORR). Currently, synthesizing high-activity ORR electrocatalysts with atomically dispersed Fe–N[Formula: see text] site structures is still challenging due to their high surface free energy, which leads to easy migration and serious aggregation. Herein, we have designed a general graphene quantum dots (GQDs)-anchoring strategy to synthesize a single-iron-atom electrocatalyst (Fe–N-GQDs/PC) applied to ORR through calcining of N-GQDs-Fe[Formula: see text] modified porous carbon (PC) and melamine. Experiments demonstrate the N-GQDs consist of abundant oxygenated groups, which could lead to complexing metal ions and thus facilitating the formation of SACs. Furthermore, the Fe–N-GQDs/PC electrocatalyst exhibits outstanding electrocatalytic ORR activity in 0.1 M KOH media with half-wave potentials of 0.84 versus 0.85 V for Pt/C. This strategy has opened up new feasible ideas to produce SACs for electrochemical energy devices.

Constructing Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Hierarchy Structure Derived from Metal-Organic Framework as High-Performance ORR Cathode Material for Zn-Air Battery.

The development of efficient and low-cost catalysts for cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in Zn-air battery (ZAB) is a key factor in reducing costs and achieving industrialization. Here, a novel segregated CoNiPt alloy embedded in N-doped porous carbon with a nanoflowers (NFs)-like hierarchy structure is synthesized through pyrolyzing Hofmann-type metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The unique hierarchical NFs structure exposes more active sites and facilitates the transportation of reaction intermediates, thus accelerating the reaction kinetics. Impressively, the resulting 15% CoNiPt@C NFs catalyst exhibits outstanding alkaline ORR activity with a half-wave potential of 0.93V, and its mass activity is 7.5 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C catalyst, surpassing state-of-the-art noble metal-based catalysts. Furthermore, the assembled CoNiPt@C+RuO2 ZAB demonstrates a maximum power density of 172mW cm-2 , which is superior to that of commercial Pt/C+RuO2 ZAB. Experimental results reveal that the intrinsic ORR mass activity is attributed to the synergistic interaction between oxygen defects and pyrrolic/graphitic N species, which optimizes the adsorption energy of the intermediate species in the ORR process and greatly enhances catalytic activity. This work provides a practical and feasible strategy for synthesizing cost-effective alkaline ORR catalysts by optimizing the electronic structure of MOF-derived catalysts.

Effect of pre-annealing on chemical configuration and heteroatom doping of highly active carbon catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction

Heteroatom-doped carbon catalysts are promising alternatives to platinum group metal-free catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). To enhance the ORR activity of carbon-based catalysts, the break of electroneutrality and number of active sites must be maximized. In this study, an annealing process at a mild temperature was introduced before heteroatom doping to control the content and configuration of the oxygen functional groups on the graphene oxide (GO). Pre-annealing affects the chemical configuration and the porosity of GO such that the epoxy groups are converted into carbonyl groups accompanying the defect formation. Interestingly, The carbonyl-enriched environment allowed ammonia borane, as a dopant with nitrogen and boron atoms, the enhanced doping performance, inducing the formation of higher number of heteroatom doping sites and additional defects in the graphene lattice. The aBNG-150 catalyst demonstrated outstanding ORR activity in both half- and single-cell evaluations because it had the highest heteroatom content and meso/macropores derived from the elimination of oxygen functional groups, which can facilitate ORR catalytic activity and O2 diffusion pathway. Therefore, we believe that this approach provides an effective route for synthesizing carbon-based catalysts with remarkable ORR performances.

Monomicelle-Directed Engineering of Strained Carbon Nanoribbons as Oxygen Reduction Catalyst.

To date, precisely tailoring local active sites of well-defined earth-abundant metal-free carbon-based electrocatalysts for attractive electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), remains challenging. Herein, the authorssuccessfully introduce a strain effect on active C-C bonds adjacent to edged graphitic nitrogen (N), which raises appropriate spin-polarization and charge density of carbon active sites and kinetically favor the facilitation of O2 adsorption and the activation of O-containing intermediates. Thus, the constructed metal-free carbon nanoribbons (CNRs-C) with high-curved edges exhibit outstanding ORR activity with half-wave potentials of 0.78 and 0.9V in 0.5m H2 SO4 and 0.1m KOH, respectively, overwhelming the planar one (0.52 and 0.81V) and the N-doped carbon sheet (0.41 and 0.71V). Especially in acidic media, the kinetic current density (Jk ) is 18 times higher than that of the planar one and the N-doped carbon sheet. Notably, thesefindings show the spin polarization of the asymmetric structure by introducing a strain effect on the C-C bonds for boosting ORR.

N‐doped Mesoporous Carbon Loaded Co Nanoparticles as Highly Effective Non‐noble Metal Electrocatalysts Towards Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Alkaline Solution

AbstractDeveloping non‐noble metal electrocatalysts with low cost and advanced catalytic performance for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of great significance for the large‐scale commercial application of fuel cells. In this work, an N‐doped mesoporous carbon supported Co nanoparticle (Co/NC) has been innovatively designed by a facile pyrolysis method with a nitrogen‐containing organic ligand as nitrogen and carbon sources by forming a complex with Co2+ to prevent the aggregation of Co nanoparticles during the carbonization process. The Co/NC exhibits excellent electrocatalytic ORR activity, including a positive redox peak potential (0.78 V), onset potential (0.90 V), and half‐wave potential (0.78 V) with electron transfer number approximately of 4.02. Co/NC performs long‐term stability and has a stronger tolerance to methanol than 20% Pt/C. Furthermore, the calculated Bader charges and the charge density differences clearly demonstrate the strong metal‐support interaction (SMSI) for Co/NC catalyst, which induces the change of electron structure on the Co/NC surface and is conducive to enhancing its catalytic performance. The outstanding ORR activity of Co/NC is ascribed to its unique property of prompt electron transfer, large specific surface area, and synergistic effect between Co nanoparticles and NC substrates.

Hierarchical porous carbon nanofibers with facilely accessible iron-based active sites for efficient oxygen reduction in alkaline and acidic media

Reasonable design of hierarchically porous structures with mass transport maximization and highly accessible active sites still remains a great challenge. Herein, we successfully fabricated Fe3O4 nanoparticles embedded in the nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon nanofibers as efficient and durable electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which was synthesized by a stepwise electrospinning-pyrolysis strategy. The unique hierarchically porous carbon nanofibers could not only improve the dispersion and exposure of metal active sites, but also maximize the mass transport, thereby enhancing the accessibility of active sites and chemical reaction rate with efficient transport channels for reactants and products. Remarkably, the optimized sample (Fe3O4@Fe–N/HPCNF) displayed outstanding ORR activity with an onset potential of 0.99 V and a half-wave potential of 0.88 V in alkaline media, even comparable to that of commercial Pt/C. Additionally, Fe3O4@Fe–N/HPCNF catalyst also revealed excellent ORR performance with a half-wave potential of 0.75 V in acidic solution. More importantly, the optimal power density of Fe3O4@Fe–N/HPCNF assembled Zn-air battery can achieve 116 mW cm−2. The excellent electrocatalytic performance is benefited from the synergistic coupling between unique hierarchically porous carbon nanofibers and highly accessible Fe-based active sites.

Fe–N–C nanostick derived from 1D Fe-ZIFs for electrocatalytic oxygen reduction

The slow oxygen reduction process at the cathode and the scarcity of platinum-based metals lead to limited applications in fuel cells and metal-air cells. Recently, transition metal and nitrogen co-doped carbon-based catalysts (M–N–C) are regarded as the most prospective non-precious metal catalysts for future fuel cell applications. It is verified theoretically and experimentally that the metal and nitrogen coordination structure is the main catalytic activity center of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), so constructing M–N–C materials with high available surface area and structural stability is an effective way to accelerate ORR. Herein, we deliberately synthesize a one-dimensional ZIF structure to fabricate one-dimensional porous Fe–N–C nanostick via two-step pyrolysis. Excitingly, the as-synthesized exhibited an outstanding ORR activity in alkaline medium (E1/2 of 0.928 V), as well as superior stability (only changed 7 mV after 10,000 cycles in alkaline medium). Our results show that the reduction of electrocatalyst dimensionality can promote mass transport and increase the accessibility of active sites, thus optimizing their performance in ORR. This work is a good demonstration of the importance of a rational design of catalyst structure for efficient ORR.