Structural Advantage Induced by Zinc Gluconate: Hierarchically Porous Carbon with In‐Situ Growth Iron‐Inside Carbon Nanotubes for Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction

• Published in: ChemistrySelect (Weinheim) Vol. 5; no. 41; pp. 12759 - 12763
• Main Authors: He, Li‐Juan, Zhong, Jia‐Qiang, Liu, Yu‐Min, Zhou, Zi‐Jian, Yang, Wei‐hua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 06.11.2020
• Subjects: Fe-inside CNTs; Fuel cell; Oxygen reduction reaction; Porous carbon; Transition metals
• ISSN: 2365-6549; 2365-6549
• DOI: 10.1002/slct.202003529

High performance of Fe‐N−C electrocatalysts with excellent activity and durability are the most promising alternatives to replace the costly Pt‐based catalysts to catalyze the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics at present. Herein, a zinc gluconate engaged strategy was reported to prepare iron‐inside carbon nanotube Fe‐N−C composites (Fe‐CNTs/NC), in which the zinc could be volatile in the process of high‐temperature pyrolysis and promoted in situ grown the iron‐inside carbon nanotubes in porous carbon matrix. The Fe‐CNTs/NC catalyst, benefiting from the hierarchical porous structure and abundant active sites, exhibits superior electrocatalytic performance (half‐wave potential of 0.838 V) and stability (9.31 % decay after a 20 000 s continuous test) in alkaline media compared to commercial Pt/C (half‐wave potential of 0.824 V and 13.15 % of stability decay rate under the same conditions). This study provides novel insights into the construction of carbon materials with dispersed active sites and hierarchically porous structure for electrocatalytic applications. A zinc gluconate engaged strategy was reported to prepare iron‐inside carbon nanotube Fe‐N−C composites (Fe‐CNTs/NC), in which the zinc could be volatile in the process of high‐temperature pyrolysis and promoted in situ grown the iron‐inside carbon nanotubes in porous carbon matrix. Abundant Fe‐Nx, Fe3C and pyridine nitrogen content make the catalyst exhibit excellent electrocatalytic and stability which is superior to Pt/C in alkaline medium.