Atomically dispersed and nitrogen coordinated single metal sites (M‐N‐C, M=Fe, Co, Ni, Mn) are the popular platinum group‐metal (PGM)‐free catalysts for many electrochemical reactions. Traditional wet‐chemistry catalyst synthesis often requires complex procedures with unsatisfied reproducibility and scalability. Here, we report a facile chemical vapor deposition (CVD) strategy to synthesize the promising M‐N‐C catalysts. The deposition of gaseous 2‐methylimidazole onto M‐doped ZnO substrates, followed by an in situ thermal activation, effectively generated single metal sites well dispersed into porous carbon. In particular, an optimal CVD‐derived Fe‐N‐C catalyst exclusively contains atomically dispersed FeN₄ sites with increased Fe loading relative to other catalysts from wet‐chemistry synthesis. The catalyst exhibited outstanding oxygen‐reduction activity in acidic electrolytes, which was further studied in proton‐exchange membrane fuel cells with encouraging performance.

中文翻译：

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原子分散和氮配位的单金属中心催化剂的化学气相沉积。

原子分散和氮配位的单金属位点（MC-N-C，M = Fe，Co，Ni，Mn）是许多电化学反应中流行的不含铂族金属（PGM）的催化剂。传统的湿法化学催化剂合成通常需要复杂的程序，且再现性和可扩展性不令人满意。在这里，我们报告了一种简便的化学气相沉积（CVD）策略来合成有前途的M-N-C催化剂。气态2-甲基咪唑沉积在M掺杂的ZnO衬底上，然后进行原位热活化，有效地产生了单个金属位点，很好地分散在了多孔碳中。特别是，最佳的CVD衍生的Fe-N-C催化剂仅包含原子分散的FeN ₄相对于湿化学合成中的其他催​​化剂，Fe负载增加的位点。该催化剂在酸性电解质中表现出出色的氧还原活性，这一性能在质子交换膜燃料电池中得到了进一步研究，性能令人鼓舞。