Synergistic heat treatment derived hollow-mesoporous-microporous Fe–N–C-SHT electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Jiang, Tao; Luan, Weiling; Ren, Yufeng; Fan, Chenyao; Feng, Qi; Turyanska, Lyudmila

Abstract

© 2020 Exploring an economical and efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is an essential but challenging field of study. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as promising candidates for the preparation of porous catalysts. Here we propose a synergistic heat treatment (SHT) method to synthesize Fe–N–C-SHT catalyst with hierarchical porous hollow structures via a simple carbonization method by the synergistic heating of ZIF-8-Fe (ZIF-8 doped with Fe) and ZIF-67 in a tube furnace. Fe–N–C-SHT catalyst displays efficient ORR activity (half-wave potential (Ehalf) = 0.88 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) with a loading of 0.204 mgFe-N-C-SHTcm−2), which is superior to that of Fe–N–C synthesized using individual heat treatment (IHT) (Ehalf = 0.84 V) and Pt/C catalyst (Ehalf = 0.86 V). We achieve enhanced catalytic properties, enhanced methanol tolerance, and long-term durability of the Fe–N–C-SHT catalyst in alkaline electrolyte. The improved ORR activity is attributed to the synergistic effect of Fe doping and optimized SHT methodology, which led to the formation of a highly porous catalyst with numerous active sites. The developed SHT method presents a novel route to fabricate Fe–N–C catalysts with hollow-mesoporous-microporous structures and high performance in ORR.

Citation

Jiang, T., Luan, W., Ren, Y., Fan, C., Feng, Q., & Turyanska, L. (2020). Synergistic heat treatment derived hollow-mesoporous-microporous Fe–N–C-SHT electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction. Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, 305, Article 110382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micromeso.2020.110382

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 3, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jun 7, 2020
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Jun 15, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 8, 2021
• Journal: Microporous and Mesoporous Materials
• Print ISSN: 1387-1811
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 305
• Article Number: 110382
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micromeso.2020.110382
• Keywords: General Materials Science; Mechanics of Materials; General Chemistry; Condensed Matter Physics
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4646097
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1387181120303851