We report a facile two-step pyrolysis and acid leaching process to fabricate a high performance oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst Fe2O3@Fe-N-C, which is composed of Fe-N-doped carbon foam nanosheets with embedded carbon coated Fe2O3 nanoparticles to enhance the ORR performance in acidic medium. The ORR activities of the Fe2O3@Fe-N-C electrocatalysts obtained at different pyrolysis temperatures are investigated and the catalyst fabricated by pyrolysis at 800 °C displays the optimal activity. A rotating disk electrode (RDE) study reveals that it exhibits a positive half-wave potential of 0.535 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), high selectivity (4e− process), excellent long-term stability (96.3% of the initial current remaining after 20 000 s of continuous operation) and good tolerance against the methanol-crossover effect in acidic medium, making it a promising candidate for substituting the commercial Pt/C catalyst in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The remarkable ORR activity originates from the cooperative effect of carbon coated Fe2O3 nanocrystals and Fe-N-doped carbon foam nanosheets. Moreover, the porous structure, high specific surface area, and electron conductivity could contribute to the enhanced ORR performance.
CITATION STYLE
Xu, X., Shi, C., Li, Q., Chen, R., & Chen, T. (2017). Fe-N-Doped carbon foam nanosheets with embedded Fe2O3 nanoparticles for highly efficient oxygen reduction in both alkaline and acidic media. RSC Advances, 7(24), 14382–14388. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6ra27826d
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