Iron–Nitrogen‐Doped Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

A highly active iron–nitrogen‐doped carbon nanotube catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is produced by employing vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VA‐CNT) with a high specific surface area and iron(II) phthalocyanine (FePc) molecules. Pyrolyzing the composite easily transforms the adsorbed FePc molecules into a large number of iron coordinated nitrogen functionalized nanographene (Fe–N–C) structures, which serve as ORR active sites on the individual VA‐CNT surfaces. The catalyst exhibits a high ORR activity, with onset and half‐wave potentials of 0.97 and 0.79 V, respectively, versus reversible hydrogen electrode, a high selectivity of above 3.92 electron transfer number, and a high electrochemical durability, with a 17 mV negative shift of E 1/2 after 10 000 cycles in an oxygen‐saturated 0.5 m H2SO4 solution. The catalyst demonstrates one of the highest ORR performances in previously reported any‐nanotube‐based catalysts in acid media. The excellent ORR performance can be attributed to the formation of a greater number of catalytically active Fe–N–C centers and their dense immobilization on individual tubes, in addition to more efficient mass transport due to the mesoporous nature of the VA‐CNTs.