Recent Advances on Heteroatom-Doped Porous Carbon—Based Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells are considered one of the alternatives to fossil energy sources. The slow kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode and the high price of Pt-based catalysts remain one of the key challenges for the commercial viability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. However, their high cost and susceptibility to poisoning severely limit their use for large-scale commercial applications in fuel cells. Heteroatom-doped porous carbon has attracted extensive attention from scientists due to its advantages such as high specific surface area and the properties conferred by heteroatom doping. On the one hand, we discuss a variety of current methods for the preparation of heteroatom-doped porous carbons, including the template method and the activation method. On the other hand, we discuss the application of heteroatom-doped porous carbon in Pt catalysts, transition metal catalysts and metal-free catalysts. Finally, we also present the pre-existing and challenges of heteroatoms in ORR catalysis, which will drive the development of ORR catalysts.

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline solution catalysed by an atomically precise catalyst based on a Pd(ii) complex supported on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Electrochemical and structural considerations

“…Nonetheless, fuel cells are an important clean alternative to internal combustion engines that burn fossil fuels and generate greenhouse gases, in addition to a multitude of pollutants, 7 and accordingly the search for alternative catalysts is garnering strong consideration. To replace platinum and other platinum group metals of similar cost, several strategies are being studied that make use of electrocatalysts based on less expensive non-noble transition metals [8][9][10][11][12] or employ non-metallic [12][13][14][15][16] or atomically precise [17][18][19][20] electrodes. Atomically precise electrocatalysts are of special interest due to their high atomic utilization efficiency, special electronic structure and homogeneous distribution of active centres.…”