Hierarchically Structured Non-PGM Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalyst Based on Microemulsion-Templated Silica and Pyrolyzed Iron and Cyanamide Precursors

Pyrolysis-induced synthesis of iron and nitrogen-containing carbon nanolayers modified graphdiyne nanostructure as a promising core-shell electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

“…It can be further confirmed that the Fe-PANI@GD-900 similarly exhibits a relatively inferior ORR activity compared to the Pt/C catalyst in acidic medium. Above research results also prove a reasonable fact that transition-metal, nitrogen source, and graphdiyne support are indispensable to the formation of the FeeNeC catalyst with high ORR activity [33]. The shell of iron and nitrogen co-doped carbon layers on the surface of Fe-PANI@GD-900 may also play an important role in absolutely accelerating charge transfer during ORR, which is supported by analysis of EIS data on GD, Fe-PANI-900, PANI@GD-900, and Fe-PANI@GD-900 (see Fig.…”

“…This result indicates that the acid-treatment can induce the dissolution of metalFe and the partially damage of FeeN structure [7], further decreasing the ORR electrocatalytic activity in alkaline environments. It can be confirmed that the iron can participate in the formation of active sites, and the FeeN structure may be also one of the key components of nitrogen-doped active sites of the ORR catalyst [17,33,43].…”

“…2a, which can be deconvoluted into three peaks at 708.4, 710.1, and 711.4 eV. The peak at 708.4 eV corresponds to the characteristic peak of the FeeN bond only [33]. The appearance of other peaks centred at 710.1 and 711.4 eV can be owing to the formation of various forms of iron oxides (710e713 eV) [33].…”

Cobalt- and iron-containing nitrogen-doped carbon aerogels as non-precious metal catalysts for electrochemical reduction of oxygen

“…The most traditional method for synthesising carbon aerogels is using templates (e.g. silica, zeolites or some polymers) that can be removed during or after carbonisation of organic precursors, thereby achieving highly porous nanocarbons with determined pore size [29,46,47]. Another common technique is carbonisation of solid organic aerogels, which are usually obtained by sol-gel polycondensation of various organic monomers (e.g.…”

“…It has also been shown that varying the melamine/resorcinol ratio in the synthesis of aerogels enables one to adjust the microstructure of the materials [60]. Highly active porous carbon catalysts for ORR have been synthesised by pyrolysis of metal salts and poly(ethyleneimine) [24], 4-aminoantipyrine [25][26][27][28] or cyanamide [29] as precursors, while using the silica template as sacrificial support enabled to achieve a determined pore structure.…”