Self‐Assembly Synthesis of Mulberry‐Like Fe/N/S‐Doped Highly Porous Carbon Materials: Efficient and Stable Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

In this work, unique structures of mulberry‐like Fe/N/S‐doped nanoporous carbon materials (NCMs) are synthesized via a simple self‐assembly assisted process. The Fe2+‐mediated polymerization of dopamine (DA) and further interaction with triblock copolymer F127 micelles induce the formation of mulberry‐like Fe/PDA/F127 structures. After carbonization, the Fe/N/S‐doped NCMs are obtained with a highly porous structure and large Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller (BET) surface area of 913.2 m2 g−1. Moreover, DA and iron salt introduce active sites, such as Sp2 C, graphitic N, pyridinic N, Fe−Nx, C−S−C, etc. Benefiting from these unique structural features and chemical compositions, the optimized Fe/N/S‐doped NCMs exhibit enhanced electrocatalytic activity and excellent durability for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) compared with commercial Pt/C catalyst. These studies provide not only a new synthesis method for heteroatom‐doped NCMs, but also a platform for various applications.

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

“…Li et al utilized dopamine as a carbon and nitrogen source precursor, in which Fe ions were fixed in the polymerization process, and additionally introduced the block copolymer F127 to achieve the coexistence of microporous and mesoporous (Figure 5A) [41]. The resulting catalyst has a unique mulberry-like porous structure with excellent continuous electron transport and ion diffusion capability and a specific surface area of 913.2 m 2 /g.…”

“…In addition, the Fe-, N-, and S-codoped porous carbon structures exhibited extremely high stability and methanol resistance, far exceeding commercial Pt/C catalysts. [41]. (B) Schematic illustration of the preparation of the Fe/3DNC, and SEM images, and LSV curves, and comparison of ORR polarization curves before and after 5000 cycles [42].…”