Iron and nitrogen co-doped porous carbon derived from soybean dregs with enhanced catalytic performance for oxygen reduction

Abstract

Novel Fe and N co-doped porous carbon materials (Fe-N-C) derived from biomass waste soybean dregs were successfully prepared by pyrolysis method. The influence of iron content in the resultant Fe-N-C samples on their physical property and the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic behaviour was systematically investigated. It is disclosed that the maximum ORR activity can be obtained on Fe2-N-C catalyst with optimized Fe dosage. Moreover, the durability and methanol resistance of Fe2-N-C catalyst surpasses the benchmark performance of the commercial Pt/C, making Fe2-N-C a promising alternative to the state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst for ORR.