Influence of different Fe doping strategies on modulating active sites and oxygen reduction reaction performance of Fe, N-doped carbonaceous catalysts

摘要

Fe/N/C catalysts,synthesized through the pyrolysis of Fe-doped metal–organic framework (MOF) precursors,have attracted extensive attention owing to their promising oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic activity in fuel cells and/or metal-air batteries.However,post-treatments (acid washing,second pyrolysis,and so on) are unavoidable to improve ORR catalytic activity and stability.The method for introducing Fe^(3+) sources (anhydrous Fe Cl_(3)) into the MOF structure,in particular,is a critical step that can avoid time-consuming post-treatments and result in more exposed Fe-N_(x) active sites.Herein,three different Fe doping strategies were systematically investigated to explore their influence on the types of active sites formed and ORR performance.Fe-NC(Zn^(2+)),synthesized by one-step pyrolysis of Fe doped ZIF-8 (Zn^(2+)) precursor which was obtained by adding the anhydrous Fe Cl_(3)source into the Zn(NO_(3))_(2)·6H_(2)O/methanol solution before mixing,possessed the highest Fe-N_(x)active sites due to the high-efficiency substitution of Zn^(2+)ions with Fe^(3+) ions during ZIF-8 growth,the strong interaction between Fe^(3+) ions and N atoms of 2-Methylimidazole (2-MIm),and ZIF-8’s micropore confinement effect.As a result,Fe-NC(Zn^(2+)) presented high ORR activity in the entire p H range (p H=1,7,and 13).At p H=13,Fe-NC(Zn^(2+)) exhibited a half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.95 V (vs.reversible hydrogen electrode),which was 70 m V higher than that of commercial Pt/C.More importantly,Fe-NC(Zn^(2+)) showed superior ORR stability in neutral media without performance loss after 5,000 cycles.A record-high open-circuit voltage(1.9 V) was obtained when Fe-NC(Zn^(2+)) was used as a cathodic catalyst in assembled Mg-air batteries in neutral media.The assembled liquid and all-solid Mg-air batteries with high performance indicated that Fe-NC(Zn^(2+)) has enormous potential for use in flexible and wearable Mg-air batteries.