Iron/Nitrogen co-doped mesoporous carbon synthesized by an endo-templating approach as an efficient electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction
Iron/Nitrogen-doped carbon catalysts are considered to be one of the most promising candidates to replace platinum-based catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in the cathode of the fuel cell. Herein, we demonstrate a simple and cost-effective strategy for the fabrication of Fe-N-C-mesoporous-c...
| Autores: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión aceptada para publicación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2018 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/173190 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/173190 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Carbon nanomaterials Fe-N-C catalyst Non-noble metal catalysts Fe-N coordination Oxygen reduction reaction |
| Sumario: | Iron/Nitrogen-doped carbon catalysts are considered to be one of the most promising candidates to replace platinum-based catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in the cathode of the fuel cell. Herein, we demonstrate a simple and cost-effective strategy for the fabrication of Fe-N-C-mesoporous-carbons involving the carbonization of calcium citrate followed by a post-treatment with urea and ammonium sulfate iron (II). The synthesized materials exhibit high values of surface area, large nitrogen and iron contents. The iron is present in two configurations: i) γ-iron phase and ii) iron coordinated to nitrogen (Fe-Nx). When used as an electrocatalyst in basic electrolyte, the Fe-N-C material predominantly catalyzes the four-electron pathway with an onset potential of 0.91 V and a half-wave potential of 0.81 V. In acidic electrolyte, the optimized catalyst exhibits an onset potential of 0.73 V. The experimental results show that the N-functionalities and the Fe-N coordination sites play a major role in catalytic performance in both kinds of electrolytes and that the ɣ-iron phase has little or no catalytic effect. In this regard, pure N-doped carbon shows to be better catalyst than pure Fe-doped carbon. Hence, these results provide useful guidelines for the development of highly active and cost-effective ORR catalysts. |
|---|