Highly Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction Electrocatalysts FeCo−N−C Derived from Two Metallomacrocycles and N‐doped Porous Carbon Materials

Abstract

AbstractN‐doped porous carbon (NPC) materials are beneficial to anchor desirable active sites for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, FeCo−N−C electrocatalysts with large specific surface areas and 3D interconnected hierarchical porous structures were prepared by pyrolysis of NPC materials with two metallomacrocycles, including iron phthalocyanine (FePc) and vitamin B12 (VB12). The onset potential (Eonset) of FePc(3)VB12(1)/NPC (900) is 0.934 V (vs. RHE), which is larger than that of commercial Pt/C (0.923 V vs. RHE). The half‐wave potential (E1/2) of FePc(3)VB12(1)/NPC (900) is 0.838 V (vs. RHE), which is almost the same with that of Pt/C electrocatalyst (0.839 V vs. RHE). Furthermore, the FePc(3)VB12(1)/NPC (900) also exhibits better durability and methanol tolerance relative to Pt/C in 0.1 M KOH solution. Such outstanding ORR performance is mainly attributed to the high proportion of both pyridinic N and graphitic N in FePc(3)VB12(1)/NPC (900) electrocatalyst.