Enhanced electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction for Fe-N4-C by the incorporation of Co nanoparticles

Jiang, Tao; Luan, Weiling; Turyanska, Lyudmila; Feng, Qi

Abstract

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic activity can be improved by means of enhancing the synergy between transition metals. In this work, a novel porous Fe-N4-C nanostructure containing uniformly dispersed Co nanoparticles (CoNPs) is prepared by an assisted thermal loading method. The as-prepared Co@Fe-N-C catalyst shows enhanced ORR activity with a half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.92 V vs. RHE, which is much higher than those of the direct pyrolysis CoNP-free sample Fe-N-C (E1/2 = 0.85 V) and Pt/C (E1/2 = 0.90 V) in alkaline media. It exhibits remarkable stability with only a 10 mV decrease in E1/2 after 10 000 cycles and an outstanding long-term durability with 85% current remaining after 60 000 s. In acidic media, this catalyst exhibits catalytic activity with an E1/2 of 0.79 V, comparable to Pt/C (E1/2 = 0.82 V). X-ray absorption fine spectroscopy analysis revealed the presence of active centres of Fe-N4. Density functional theory calculations confirmed the strong synergy between CoNPs and Fe-N4 sites, providing a lower overpotential and beneficial electronic structure and a local coordination environment for the ORR. The incorporation of CoNPs on the surface of Fe-N4-C nanomaterials plays a key role in enhancing the ORR catalytic activity and stability, providing a new route to prepare efficient Pt-free ORR catalysts.

Citation

Jiang, T., Luan, W., Turyanska, L., & Feng, Q. (2021). Enhanced electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction for Fe-N4-C by the incorporation of Co nanoparticles. Nanoscale, 13(13), 6521-6530. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1nr00727k

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 9, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Mar 13, 2021
• Publication Date: Apr 7, 2021
• Deposit Date: Mar 24, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 14, 2022
• Journal: Nanoscale
• Print ISSN: 2040-3364
• Electronic ISSN: 2040-3372
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 13
• Pages: 6521-6530
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d1nr00727k
• Keywords: General Materials Science
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5413220
• Publisher URL: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/NR/D1NR00727K#!divAbstract