Superior FexN electrocatalyst derived from 1,1′-diacetylferrocene for oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline and acidic media

• Published in: Nanotechnology reviews (Berlin) Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 843 - 852
• Main Authors: Jiang Hunan, Li Jinyang, Liang Mengni, Deng Hanpeng, Zhou Zuowan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: De Gruyter 01.01.2020
• Subjects: 1,1′-diacetylferrocene; acidic/alkaline media; orr electrocatalyst; rgo
• ISSN: 2191-9097
• DOI: 10.1515/ntrev-2020-0057

Although Fe–N/C catalysts have received increasing attention in recent years for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), it is still challenging to precisely control the active sites during the preparation. Herein, we report FexN@RGO catalysts with the size of 2–6 nm derived from the pyrolysis of graphene oxide and 1,1′-diacetylferrocene as C and Fe precursors under the NH3/Ar atmosphere as N source. The 1,1′-diacetylferrocene transforms to Fe3O4 at 600°C and transforms to Fe3N and Fe2N at 700°C and 800°C, respectively. The as-prepared FexN@RGO catalysts exhibited superior electrocatalytic activities in acidic and alkaline media compared with the commercial 10% Pt/C, in terms of electrochemical surface area, onset potential, half-wave potential, number of electrons transferred, kinetic current density, and exchange current density. In addition, the stability of FGN-8 also outperformed commercial 10% Pt/C after 10000 cycles, which demonstrates the as-prepared FexN@RGO as durable and active ORR catalysts in acidic media.