Iron nanoparticles implanted metal-organic-frameworks based Fe–N–C catalysts for high-performance oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract

The Fe–N–C active site containing non-precious metal catalysts (NPMCs) as the substitute to platinum-based catalysts are highly desired for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) but it's a huge challenge to achieve such a high-performance and long term stabile one. In this study, the iron nanoparticles-implanted polyaniline (FeNPs@PANI) metal–organic–frameworks (MOFs) on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has been synthesized through metal-ligand strategy via a simple chemical process. Strong interaction has been observed between FeNPs and nitrogen in PANI suggesting abundant Fe–N–C active sites in the FeNPs@PANI/rGO catalyst. Owing to the Fe–N–C active sites with less amount of oxygenated carbon in the molecular scale and mesoporous channels with the synergy of PANI and graphene in microscale, the FeNPs@PANI/rGO catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic activity and stability than the benchmark Pt/C catalyst towards ORR in respect to the onset potential and half-wave potential. Very importantly, the Fe–N–C active sites in FeNPs@PANI are comparatively better active against SCN− and methanol poisoning than bare FeNPs/rGO during ORR.