An 2D Polymer Used As Ingredient of Fe/N/C Composite Towards Oxygen Reduction Catalyst In Acidic Medium.

Abstract

AbstractCarbon‐based transition metal/nitrogen material is one of the most promising non‐precious metal catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction. And N‐containing polymers are considered as a kind of excellent N precursor because they are more likely to form ordered and stable carbon‐based active layer during heat treatment. However, further research is still needed due to the inferior oxygen reduction catalytic activity compared with Pt in acidic condition. Herein, we design the Fe/N/C catalyst through synthesize a special nitrogen‐rich polymer poly‐hexaazatrinaphthylene as N source and subsequently calcine with the mixture of ferric chloride and Vulcan XC‐72. The physical results indicate that the oxygen reduction catalytic activity is mainly related to the amorphous carbon, pyridinic‐N, and Fe‐N4 coordination geometry. Electrochemical tests indicated that the sample pyrolyzed at 800°C presents relative high oxygen reduction activity in 0.5 mol L−1 H2SO4 via an efficient four‐electron‐dominant pathway.