Synthesis of FeCo-N-OLC Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

The world's main source of energy is fossil fuels, but fossil fuels are finite resources and can also irreparably harm the environment. According to the United States Energy Information Administration, the burning of fossil fuels was responsible for 76 percent of the US greenhouse gas emissions. Fossil fuels not only pollute the environment, but also affect human health. My research focuses on making a catalyst that is economical, efficient and above all friendly to the environment. The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is an important reaction for energy conversion systems, such as fuel cells. The fuel cells generate electricity directly by electrochemically reducing oxygen and oxidizing fuel in water as the only by-product. Onion-like carbon (OLC) are used as a catalytic support for fuel cell applications due to their high conductivity and high surface-to-volume ratio. The combination of carbon compounds with conductive polymers results in new materials and devices with possible practical applications. In recent decades, several studies have been conducted on nitrogen doped structures in carbon materials for the ORR. In my research we use nanodiamonds (NDs) to dope them with the polymerization of the aniline monomer. Then, through a pyrolysis process, we convert the ND/PANI particles into N-OLC. These particles are then polymerized using the aniline and pyrrole monomers to dope the OLCs with nitrogen. These particles are characterized using the following techniques, Raman, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). Then the synthesis is carried out with the non-precious metals. The non-precious metals that we use are iron and cobalt. ORR experiments were performed with the FeCo-N-OLC particles. In future work we will characterize these samples using synchrotron techniques.