创新背景

氢燃料电池作为绿色环保的便携电力替代品，利用绿色燃料氢转化为电力，使用后的副产品只有对环境无害的水蒸气，高效率、无污染、无噪音，已经成为航天能源和汽车能源的重要原料。但是其中所用的催化剂由铂制成，价格高昂且稀有，研究新型催化剂对氢燃料电池生产具有重要作用。

创新过程

伦敦帝国理工学院的研究人员领导的团队针对氢燃料电池开发成本高昂的问题研究出了一种新型催化剂，只使用铁、碳和氮等廉价易得的材料进行组合创造，有望让铁取代铂成为氢燃料电池的主要成分，相关研究结果《用于质子交换膜燃料电池的 Fe-NC 氧还原催化剂中单原子铁位点的高负载》已于2022年4月25日发表在《自然·催化》杂志上。

该团队创造的催化剂中所有的铁都不是大块形式，而是以单个原子的形式分散在一个导电的碳基体中。因为大块铁的所有原子并不像单原子铁一样分散，而是聚集在一起。相比之下。单原子铁更容易产生反应，化学性质也和大块铁不同。单原子铁的特性帮助铁促进燃料电池所需的反应，成为可以取代铂的元素。研究过程中，该团队确定单原子铁基催化剂性能作用近似铂基催化剂，有望成为氢燃料电池的主要元件，但还需要继续深入研究提高它的稳定性，保证其耐用性和性能可以真正取代铂基催化剂。

团队负责人表示，研究团队开发的新方法所制造的一系列‘单原子’催化剂，为新的化学和电化学过程提供了机会。研究采用金属转化的合成方法，避免单原子铁在合成过程中团簇。

这种方法和过程不仅可以用于生产氢燃料电池的合适价格催化剂外，还可以用于生产其他化学过程和电化学工艺催化剂，促进保护环境的化学能源生产创造。

创新关键点

利用已有廉价易得元素进行分离式单原子金属转化合成生产新型化学催化剂。

The combined creation of iron, carbon and hydrogen is expected to help hydrogen fuel cells reduce costs

A team led by researchers at Imperial College London has developed a new catalyst for the high cost of developing hydrogen fuel cells, using only a combination of cheap and readily available materials such as iron, carbon and nitrogen. Main components of hydrogen fuel cells, related research results "High loading of single atomic iron sites in Fe-NC oxygen reduction catalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cells"  was published in the journal Nature Catalysis on April 25, 2022.
All of the iron in the catalyst the team created was not in bulk form, but as individual atoms dispersed in a conductive carbon matrix. Because all the atoms of bulk iron are not dispersed like monoatomic iron, but rather clustered together. By comparison. Monoatomic iron is more reactive and chemically different from bulk iron. The properties of monoatomic iron help iron to facilitate the reactions needed in fuel cells, becoming an element that can replace platinum. During the research process, the team determined that the performance of single-atom iron-based catalysts is similar to that of platinum-based catalysts, and is expected to become the main component of hydrogen fuel cells, but further research is needed to improve its stability and ensure that its durability and performance can truly replace platinum. base catalyst.
Team leader Dr Asad Mehmood said the new method developed by the research team has created a range of 'single-atom' catalysts that offer opportunities for new chemical and electrochemical processes. The research adopts the synthesis method of metal conversion to avoid the clustering of single-atom iron during the synthesis process.
This method and process can be used not only to produce suitable priced catalysts for hydrogen fuel cells, but also to produce catalysts for other chemical processes and electrochemical processes, facilitating the creation of chemical energy production that protects the environment.