Performance of nitrogen-containing macroporous carbon supported cobalt catalyst synthesized through in-situ construction of catalytic sites for oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract

A novel method of in-situ catalytic site (CoNx) construction in macroporous carbon (MPC) is developed. The nitrogen-containing MPC-supported cobalt (Co/N–MPC) catalysts are synthesized via the pyrolysis of a mixture of glucose-urea resin, nano-CaCO3, and cobalt nitrate. The nano-CaCO3 functions as a template to fabricate MPC that provides high electric conductivity and large specific surface area. The catalytic CoNx sites are simultaneously created during the formation of N–MPC. The use of glucose-urea resin as the carbon and nitrogen sources significantly increases the nitrogen content as high as 8.8 at% in the MPC. The synthesized Co/N–MPC demonstrates superb catalytic activity toward oxygen reduction reaction. The direct borohydride fuel cell using the Co/N–MPC shows a power density as high as 170 mW cm−2 which is much higher than the cell using 10 wt.% Pt/C but slightly lower than the cell using 20 wt.% Pt/C as the cathode catalyst at ambient conditions.