Efficient
reduction of O2 to water is a central challenge
in energy conversion and many aerobic oxidation reactions. Here, we
show that the electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) can
be achieved at high potentials by using soluble organic nitroxyl and
nitrogen oxide (NOx) mediators. When used
alone, neither organic nitroxyls, such as 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyl-N-oxyl (TEMPO), nor NOx species,
such as sodium nitrite, are effective ORR mediators. The combination
of nitroxyl/NOx species, however, mediates
sustained O2 reduction with overpotentials as low as 300
mV in acetonitrile containing trifluoroacetic acid. Mechanistic analysis
of the coupled redox reactions supports a process in which the nitrogen
oxide catalyst drives aerobic oxidation of a nitroxyl mediator to
an oxoammonium species, which then is reduced back to the nitroxyl
at the cathode. The electrolysis potential is dictated by the oxoammonium/nitroxyl
reduction potential. The overpotentials accessible with this ORR system
are significantly lower than widely studied molecular metal-macrocycle
ORR catalysts and benefit from the mechanism-based specificity for
four-electron reduction of oxygen to water mediated by NOx species, together with kinetically efficient reduction
of oxidized NOx species by TEMPO and other
organic nitroxyls.