Fe and N dual doped porous carbon derived from waste biomass as an effective catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract

Developing a cathode catalyst with low-cost, facile preparation process and good electrocatalytic performance for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is critical to the application of fuel cell. In this study, a feasible approach for the sustainable synthesis of Fe and N dual-doped porous biomass-derived carbon catalyst (Fe-NPC) was demonstrated, with passion fruit peels as the carbon precursor, FeCl3 and melamine as the activators. Fe-NPC exhibits hierarchically porous structure with large specific surface area (1456.5 m2g−1), and the Fe, N distribute homogeneously in the entire architecture of Fe-NPC. The material shows comparable electrocatalytic activity (E1/2 = 0.872 V) and superior stability for ORR to commercial Pt/C (20 wt%) in alkaline electrolyte.