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Regulating the electronic states of single atomic sites around the Fermi level remains a major concern for boosting the electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, a Fe d-orbital splitting manner modulation strategy by constructing axial coordination on FeN4 sites is presented. Experimental investigations and theoretical calculations reveal that the axial tractions induce the distortion of square-planar field (FeN4 SP), up to the quasi-octahedral coordination (FeN4 O1 OCquasi ), thus leading to the electron rearrangement with a diluted spin polarization. The declined population of unpaired electrons in dz 2 , dx z and dyz states engenders a moderate adsorption of ORR intermediates, thereby reinforcing the intrinsic reaction activity. In situ infrared spectroscopy further demonstrates that the reordering of d-orbital splitting and occupation facilitates the desorption of *OH. The FeN4 O1 OCquasi exhibits a dramatic improvement of kinetic current density and turnover frequency, which are fivefold and tenfold higher than those of FeN4 SP. This work presents a novel understanding on improving the electrocatalytic performance through the orbital-scale manipulation.
Dai et al. (Sat,) studied this question.