Zhang Y, Guo C, Ma Z, Wu H, Chen C. Inexpensive
Ipomoea aquatica Biomass-Modified Carbon Black as an Active Pt-Free Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in an Alkaline Medium.
Materials (Basel) 2015;
8:6658-6667. [PMID:
28793590 PMCID:
PMC5455408 DOI:
10.3390/ma8105331]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2015] [Revised: 08/22/2015] [Accepted: 08/26/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The development of inexpensive and active Pt-free catalysts as an alternative to Pt-based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is an essential prerequisite for fuel cell commercialization. In this paper, we report a strategy for the design of a new Fe-N/C electrocatalyst derived from the co-pyrolysis of Ipomoea aquatica biomass, carbon black (Vulcan XC-72R) and FeCl₃·6H₂O at 900 °C under nitrogen atmosphere. Electrochemical results show that the Fe-N/C catalyst exhibits higher electrocatalytic activity for ORR, longer durability and higher tolerance to methanol compared to a commercial Pt/C catalyst (40 wt %) in an alkaline medium. In particular, Fe-N/C presents an onset potential of 0.05 V (vs. Hg/HgO) for ORR in an alkaline medium, with an electron transfer number (n) of ~3.90, which is close to that of Pt/C. Our results confirm that the catalyst derived from I. aquatica and carbon black is a promising non-noble metal catalyst as an alternative to commercial Pt/C catalysts.
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