The in situ grown of activated Fe-N-C nanofibers derived from polypyrrole on carbon paper and its electro-catalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction

摘要

The Fe-N-C nanofibers (NFs) exhibit excellent electro-catalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which is essential for energy conversion system. Compared with the traditional ink-based electrode, we synthesized the structured Fe-N-C ANFs/CP (activated NFs derived from polypyrrole(PPy) doped with iron atoms in situ grown on carbon paper) by electrochemical polymerization. Herein, we investigate the effect of the iron concentration on the electro-catalytic activity for ORR, revealing that the as-prepared 0.05-Fe-N-C ANFs exhibit superior electro-catalytic activity than 0.01-Fe-N-C ANFs, 0.03-Fe-N-C ANFs as well as 0.10-Fe-N-C ANFs and excellent durability in alkaline solution. It is shown that the better electro-catalytic activity of 0.05-Fe-N-C ANFs for ORR could be ascribing to the fluffy fibrous structure, higher Fe-N (x) concentration, and well-dispersed catalytic active sites.