High performance biomass-derived catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction with excellent methanol tolerance

Abstract

The discovery of low cost and efficient catalytic materials for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of paramount importance for industrial-scale fuel cell manufacture. In this work, a convenient and straightforward approach was designed and applied to produce iron and nitrogen co-doped biomass carbon/graphene composite (Fe–N/CB-RGO) by using soybean dregs combined with graphene oxide (GO). The results show that the optimized Fe–N/CB-RGO (1) sample has high catalytic activity and stability for ORR, the onset potential of Fe–N/CB-RGO (1) is 0.02 V vs. Hg/HgO, which is merely 50 mV negative-shifted comparison with commercial Pt/C. The composition optimized Fe–N/CB-RGO (1) catalyst showed excellent methanol tolerance, with the presence of methanol surprisingly improving ORR performance. This unique catalytic performance of the Fe–N/CB-RGO (1) catalyst is attributed to electron transfer synergies arising from close interfacial contact between the biomass-derived carbon and graphene.