A Universal Method to Engineer Metal Oxide–Metal–Carbon Interface for Highly Efficient Oxygen Reduction

Oxygen is the most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is also the most important reaction in life processes and energy converting/storage systems. Developing techniques toward high-efficiency ORR remains highly desired and a challenge. Here, we report a N-doped carbon (NC) encapsulated CeO2/Co interfacial hollow structure (CeO2–Co–NC) via a generalized strategy for largely increased oxygen species adsorption and improved ORR activities. First, the metallic Co nanoparticles not only provide high conductivity but also serve as electron donors to largely create oxygen vacancies in CeO2. Second, the outer carbon layer can effectively protect cobalt from oxidation and dissociation in alkaline media and as well imparts its higher ORR activity. In the meanwhile, the electronic interactions between CeO2 and Co in the CeO2/Co interface are unveiled theoretically by density functional theory calculations to justify the increased oxygen absorption for ORR activity improvement. The reported CeO2–Co–NC hollow nanospheres not only exhibit decent ORR performance with a high onset potential (922 mV vs RHE), half-wave potential (797 mV vs RHE), and small Tafel slope (60 mV dec–1) comparable to those of the state-of-the-art Pt/C catalysts but also possess long-term stability with a negative shift of only 7 mV of the half-wave potential after 2000 cycles and strong tolerance against methanol. This work represents a solid step toward high-efficient oxygen reduction.