Cu-Nx active sites derived from copper phthalocyanine in porous carbon promoting oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract

Transition metal-nitrogen-carbon materials have been reported to be a promising candidate for cathodic oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cell and metal air battery. In this paper, a copper and nitrogen co-doped carbon catalyst (Cu/PC) was designed and successfully synthesized through hydrothermal method and two high temperature calcinations process. The new designed Cu/PC catalyst exhibited a superior catalytic activity with the half-wave potential and limited diffusion current density of 0.847 V and 5.52 mA cm−2, respectively. Mechanisms insight from electrochemical experiments and density functional calculations revealed that the Cu-Nx active sites on the surface of porous carbon and large pore volume played key roles on the excellent electrochemical performance. The results reported in this work provide a new perspective for the design of transition metal catalysts and lay a solid foundation for the related mechanism studies.