American Chemical Society, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 4(137), p. 1436-1439, 2015
DOI: 10.1021/ja5129132
Full text: Download
The design of a new class of non-noble metal catalysts with their oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity superior to Pt is extremely important for the future fuel cell device. Herein, we demonstrate a one-pot, large-scale protocol for the controlled synthesis of new one-dimensional (1D) bamboo-like carbon nanotube/Fe3C nanoparticle (NP) hybrid nanoelectrocatalysts, which are directly prepared through annealing the mixture of PEG-PPG-PEG Pluronic® P123, melamine and Fe(NO3)3 at 800 oC in N2. The resulting hybrid electrocatalysts show very high ORR activity with the half-wave potential of 0.861 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)) in 0.10 M KOH solution, 49 mV more positive than that of 20 wt % Pt/C catalyst. Furthermore, they exhibit good ORR activity in acidic media with the comparable onset potential to that of the Pt/C catalyst. Most importantly, they show much higher stability and better methanol tolerance with almost no ORR polarization curve shift and no change on oxygen reduction peak in cyclic voltammogram in the presence of 1.0 M methanol, than those of the commercial Pt/C catalyst in both alkaline and acidic solutions. They become one of the best non-noble metal catalysts ever reported for ORR in both alkaline and acidic solutions.