Preparation of iron and nitrogen co-doped carbon material Fe/N-CCM-T for oxygen reduction reaction

In this paper, iron and nitrogen co-doped carbon material with nanotube structure (Fe/N-C CM -T) was synthesized by pyrolyzing a mixture of Fe salt, chitosan and melamine and displayed high electrocatalytic performance for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The structure of the Fe/N-C CM -T was characterized and their ORR performance in alkaline media was investigated by linear sweep voltammetry , cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry . Fe/N-C CM -T displayed better ORR performance than other carbon materials like Fe/N-C C -800. The Fe/N-C CM -800 with a large surface area (302.5 m 2 /g) especially exhibited the best ORR electrocatalytic performance among the prepared carbon materials, which was also proved by its similar Tafel slope (76 mV decade −1 ) to Pt/C catalyst (74 mV decade −1 ). Fe/N-C CM -800 showed similar ORR activity as commercial Pt/C catalyst, but superior tolerance to methanol and stability. Such high ORR performance of the Fe/N-C CM -T can be attributed to its nanotube structure, high specific surface area (SSA), high graphitic-N and pyridinic-N contents.