Cluster G with two new releases

January 2026 was a successful month for Cluster G. The members can rejoice in the fruits of their joint labor: two scientific publications are now available online.

The article "Porous Carbons as Supports for Iron (II) Tris(1,10-Phenanthroline)-Based ORR Catalyst: The Role of Morphology and Surface Chemistry" (https://aces.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cnma.202500635) was published in the journal ChemNanoMat (Wiley). The study shows how different porous carbon materials influence catalytic activity in oxygen reduction (ORR) and relates these effects to the morphology and surface chemistry of the catalysts before and after impregnation. The lead author of the publication is RTG doctoral student Lairana Lima Duarte (project G1). The work was carried out in close collaboration with doctoral student Stefan Röher (project G2) and supervisors Dr. Julia Grothe, Prof. Stefan Kaskel, and Prof. Inez Weidinger. Colleagues from the departments of Inorganic Chemistry I and II and Electrochemistry, as well as researchers from the Institute of Solid State and Materials Physics at TU Dresden, were also involved.

A second publication appeared in ChemCatChem (Wiley) under the title: “The Influence of Nafion Content on Catalytic Oxygen Reduction Performance of High Surface Carbons” (https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cctc.202501435). The study examines how the choice of Nafion content can lead to fluctuations in the measured activation energies and current densities, and deduces how an optimal Nafion content can be estimated based on the specific surface area of the catalyst. The first author is RTG doctoral student Stefan Röher (project G2), who conducted the study together with Lairana Lima Duarte (project G1) and their supervisors Prof. Inez Weidinger, Dr. Julia Grothe, and Prof. Stefan Kaskel. Alexandra Apel from the field of electrochemistry was also involved.

Both publications highlight the close interdisciplinary collaboration between RTG doctoral students in the field of electrocatalysis. They combine the synthesis, functionalization, characterization, and electrochemical evaluation of the materials investigated in Cluster G.