Developing low-cost electrocatalysts to replace precious Ir-based materials is key for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Here, we report atomically dispersed nickel coordinated with nitrogen and sulfur species in porous carbon nanosheets as an electrocatalyst exhibiting excellent activity and durability for OER with a low overpotential of 1.51 V at 10 mA cm −2 and a small Tafel slope of 45 mV dec −1 in alkaline media. Such electrocatalyst represents the best among all reported transition metal- and/or heteroatom-doped carbon electrocatalysts and is even superior to benchmark Ir/C. Theoretical and experimental results demonstrate that the well-dispersed molecular S|NiN x species act as active sites for catalyzing OER. The atomic structure of S|NiN x centers in the carbon matrix is clearly disclosed by aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron radiation X-ray absorption spectroscopy together with computational simulations. An integrated photoanode of nanocarbon on a Fe 2 O 3 nanosheet array enables highly active solar-driven oxygen production.

Atomically dispersed Ni–Nx species anchored porous carbon matrix with embedded Ni nanoparticles was synthesized for highly efficient hydrogen evolution in alkaline conditions.

Electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2ER) in rechargeable Zn–CO2 battery still remains a great challenge. Herein, a highly efficient CO2ER electrocatalyst composed of coordinatively unsaturated single‐atom copper coordinated with nitrogen sites anchored into graphene matrix (Cu–N2/GN) is reported. Benefitting from the unsaturated coordination environment and atomic dispersion, the ultrathin Cu–N2/GN nanosheets exhibit a high CO2ER activity and selectivity for CO production with an onset potential of −0.33 V and the maximum Faradaic efficiency of 81% at a low potential of −0.50 V, superior to the previously reported atomically dispersed Cu–N anchored on carbon materials. Experimental results manifest the highly exposed and atomically dispersed Cu–N2 active sites in graphene framework where the Cu species are coordinated by two N atoms. Theoretical calculations demonstrate that the optimized reaction free energy for Cu–N2 sites to capture CO2 promote the adsorption of CO2 molecules on Cu–N2 sites; meanwhile, the short bond lengths of Cu–N2 sites accelerate the electron transfer from Cu–N2 sites to *CO2, thus efficiently boosting the *COOH generation and CO2ER performance. A designed rechargeable Zn–CO2 battery with Cu–N2/GN nanosheets deliver a peak power density of 0.6 mW cm−2, and the charge process of battery can be driven by natural solar energy.

The development of porous carbon materials as highly efficient, durable, and economic electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of great importance for realizing practical applications of many significant energy conversion and storage devices. Herein, we demonstrate a general approach to porous carbons decorated with boron centers and atomically dispersed Fe−N x species (denoted as FeBNC). The as-prepared FeBNC can serve as efficient electrocatalysts for ORR in an alkaline medium with a half-wave potential of 0.838 V vs RHE, comparable to that of the state-of-the-art porous carbon catalysts and the benchmark system Pt/C. Theoretical calculation reveals that incorporation of boron dopant into traditional Fe−N x species-enriched porous carbons significantly lowers the energy barrier for oxygen reduction and therefore boosts the overall performance. This work not only provides an easy method to synthesize B-doped Fe−N x centers-enriched porous carbons as highly efficient electrocatalysts for ORR and Zn-air batteries but also proves the origin of the catalytic performance from both B dopants and Fe−N x sites.

Electrochemically driven carbon dioxide (CO2) conversion is an emerging research field due to the global warming and energy crisis. Carbon monoxide (CO) is one key product during electroreduction of CO2; however, this reduction process suffers from tardy kinetics due to low local concentration of CO2 on a catalyst's surface and low density of active sites. Herein, presented is a combination of experimental and theoretical validation of a Ni porphyrin‐based covalent triazine framework (NiPor‐CTF) with atomically dispersed NiN4 centers as an efficient electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). The high density and atomically distributed NiN4 centers are confirmed by aberration‐corrected high‐angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy and extended X‐ray absorption fine structure. As a result, NiPor‐CTF exhibits high selectivity toward CO2RR with a Faradaic efficiency of >90% over the range from −0.6 to −0.9 V for CO conversion and achieves a maximum Faradaic efficiency of 97% at −0.9 V with a high current density of 52.9 mA cm−2, as well as good long‐term stability. Further calculation by the density functional theory method reveals that the kinetic energy barriers decreasing for *CO2 transition to *COOH on NiN4 active sites boosts the performance.