Promotion of oxygen reduction performance by Fe3O4 nanoparticles support nitrogen -doped three dimensional meso/macroporous carbon based electrocatalyst

摘要

Exploring low-cost and high-performance nonprecious metal catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells is crucial for the commercialization of energy conversion and storage devices. Here we report a three-dimensional hierarchical porous Fe, N doped carbon catalysts synthesized by a facile pyrolysis method using silica nanospheres as template, glucose, FeSO4.7H(2)O and dicyandiamide as the carbon, iron and nitrogen precursors, respectively. The corresponding 3DHP/Fe-N-C-900 catalyst exhibits superior ORR activity with the onset potential of 0 V (vs. Ag/AgCI) and long-term stability than that of 20 wt. % Pt/C in alkaline medium. The excellent ORR performance of 3DHP/Fe-N-C-900 can be attributed to the synergistic effect of Fe3O4 and doped N, as well as the three-dimensional meso/macroporous structure with high surface area. The finding of high ORR activity of Fe3O4 nanoparticles coupling with hierarchical porous N-doped carbon materials opens a new avenue for the construction of cost-effective Fe-N-C catalysts for fuel cells. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.