ZTIFs derived nitrogen-introduced high specific area and hierarchical porous carbon for oxygen reduction reaction

It is of great allure to construct nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon to replace Pt-based catalysts for efficient ORR. Here, nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon (NHPC) was prepared by carbonizing ZTIF-1 and KOH activating. The resultant NHPC4-700 catalyst exhibits a hierarchical porous structure and high specific area (2404 m 2  g −1 ), which promoted the exposure of enough active sites as well as simultaneously enhanced the electron transfer rate, shorten the mass transfer pathway, enhanced ionic conductivity and carbon wetting. The results are capable of remarkably improving the ORR activities of carbon materials. The NHPC4-700 catalyst exhibits a great catalytic performance with onset potential at 0.90 V and limiting current density of − 6.0 mA cm −2 , which is close to commercial Pt/C electrocatalyst. Meanwhile, the NHPC4-700 catalysts had better stability and methanol resistance than that of Pt/C toward ORR. These superior electrochemical properties of the NHPC4-700 catalysts were closely related to their nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous structure and high specific area.