Lewis-Basic Lanthanide Metal-Organic Framework Derived Versatile Multi-Active-Site Synergistic Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction.

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) underpins the development of the whole fuel cell field, where there is strong impetus to develop efficient and stable catalysts that can replace the precious metal Pt/C. Herein, a series of excellent catalysts for ORR derived from Ce/La dual lanthanide metal-organic framework (MOF) with functional Lewis-basic sites were synthesized for the first time. The synergistic effect of multi-active sites: high concentration of oxygen vacancies from La-embedded CeO and Fe-N sites as well as porous structure, endow the catalyst superior performance than Pt/C, with half-wave potential ( E) of 0.870 V and current density ( j) of 5.43 mA/cm. Furthermore, the catalysts are also effective for other non-electrocatalytic reactions. It is expected that this research will contribute to synthesis of an excellent nonplatinum electrocatalyst for fuel-cell applications and the oxygen vacancies stabilized in carbon matrix offer a method for versatile catalyst design for other reactions.