Revision of the oxygen reduction reaction on N-doped graphenes by grand-canonical DFT

Nitrogen-doped graphenes were among the first promising metal-free carbon-based catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, data on the most efficient catalytic centers and their catalytic mechanisms are still under debate. In this work, we study the associative mechanism of the ORR in an alkaline medium on graphene containing various types of nitrogen doping. The free energy profile of the reaction is constructed using grand-canonical DFT at a constant electrode potential in combination with an implicit electrolyte model. It is shown that the reaction mechanism differs from the generally accepted one and depends on the surface potential and doping type. In particular, as the potential decreases, coupled electron–proton transfer changes to sequential electron and proton transfer, and the potential at which this occurs depends on the doping type. It has been shown that oxygen chemisorption is the limiting step. The electrocatalytic mechanism of the nitrogen dopants involves reducing the oxygen chemisorption energy. Calculations predict that, at different potentials, different types of nitrogen impurities most effectively catalyze the ORR.