Potential-dependent kinetics of oxygen chemisorption as the crucial step of oxygen reduction reaction: GCDFT study

Nitrogen-doped carbon materials (NCMs) are widely regarded as promising alternatives to expensive platinum-based electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). While NCMs exhibit considerable electrochemical activity in alkaline media, their performance in acidic environments remains a significant challenge. However, acidic conditions are commercially desirable for ORR’s catalysis in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The dramatic pH dependence of NCM effectiveness has sparked ongoing debate, with several factors under consideration, including surface protonation, variations in hydrogen binding energy, differences in proton donors, and interface structure. In this work, we present a grand canonical density functional theory (GCDFT) study of the chemisorption step on pristine and nitrogen-doped graphene. Through nudged elastic band (NEB) calculations at various electrode potentials, we propose a potential-dependent (and thus pH-dependent) mechanism of oxygen chemisorption at graphitic nitrogen ($N_{\mathrm{gr}}$) defects, offering new insights into the pH dependency of the onset potential in NCM catalysts.