Nitrogen-Functionalized Carbon Surface Boosts Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysis on a Pt Surface

Abstract Carbon supports serve as an essential framework for ensuring electrical connectivity while enabling the uniform dispersion and stabilization of nanocatalysts in electrochemical energy conversion devices. Beyond their roles in mechanical stabilization and electrical conduction, however, recent studies have shown that heteroatom incorporation (e.g., via doping or surface functionalization) on the carbon surface profoundly tailors catalyst−support interfacial properties, which leads to improved physical anchoring or modulated electronic structure of active sites. However, fundamental understanding of the catalytic promotion by such a heteroatom-introduced carbon surface has remained elusive because of a limited systematic approach on model catalysts and in-depth analyses. Herein, we designed Pt-based model catalysts using a nitrogen-functionalized carbon support, prepared via contr…