Nitrogen-intercalated Pd metallene nanoribbons with optimized electronic structure for oxygen reduction catalysis.

Herein, we propose nitrogen (N)-intercalated Pd metallene nanoribbons (N-Pd MNRs), which exhibit favorable and stable oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance in alkaline media. The ultrathin configuration of the N-Pd MNRs exposes more atoms, thus acting as active sites. More importantly, N intercalation triggers electronic interaction between Pd and N to establish Pd-N bonds and induces lattice strain, which optimizes the electronic structure of the metallene nanoribbons, thereby modulating the binding strength between the intermediates and active sites. This work offers new insights into the rational design of N intercalated metallene nanoribbons for efficient ORR catalysis.