Abstract
One of the urgent problems in the commercialization of fuel cells is the high cost of electrode materials due to the use of Pt/C as the catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, by taking advantages of the metal-organic frameworks, a novel ORR catalyst of Co@Co9S8–N/C with composite porous structure is synthesized with a facile coprecipitation-pyrolysis method. Co@Co9S8–N/C is composed of graphitic carbon skeleton with Co9S8 covered Co nanoparticles (Co@Co9S8) and nitrogen atoms doping on, on which Co@Co9S8 and pyridinic N provide catalytic sites for ORR. The N, S doped surrounding graphitic carbon skeleton after pyrolysis and vulcanization processes can protect the electrochemical active sites from deactivation. The fabricated Co@Co9S8–N/C with abundant catalytic active sites performs excellent ORR activity and stability. Thereafter, the structure of the Co@Co9S8–N/C is optimized by changing the Zn/Co ratio in the precursor to improve its ORR performance. The results show that with the Zn/Co ratio of 3:2, Co@Co9S8–N/C gives the best ORR activity relying on its well specific surface area, sufficient and uniform-dispersed catalytic sites. Based on this, the Co@Co9S8–N/C catalytic alkaline direct glucose fuel cells perform better than the Pt/C catalytic one.
Published Version
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