Ordered mesoporous carbon assisted Fe–N–C for efficient oxygen reduction catalysis in both acidic and alkaline media

Abstract

Fe-N-C catalyst obtained by high temperature pyrolysis is one of the most promising electrocatalysts for non-precious metal oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, up to now, the lesser density of active sites results in a substantial performance gap between the Fe-N-C materials and the conventional Pt/C ORR catalysts. Herein, an N-doped mesoporous carbon is employed as the support for the dispersion of poly-m-phenylenediamine. With high specific surface areas of 1526 m2 g-1, the as-prepared Fe-N-C materials show the half-wave potential of 0.89 V and 0.79 V in 0.1 M KOH and 0.5 M H2SO4, respectively. Notably, the superior methanol tolerance, as well as excellent stability, makes our Fe-N-C materials as competitive candidates for oxygen electrochemical catalysis.