A high-performance nitrogen-rich ZIF8-derived $$\textrm{Fe}-\textrm{Co}-\textrm{NC}$$ electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction

It is of great practical significance to explore and prepare cheap, high-performance, and stable catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), but it is still in progress at present. Herein, a straightforward evaporation–pyrolysis strategy is designed for the preparation of 3D porous electrocatalysts (denoted as \(\textrm{Fe}-\textrm{Co}-\textrm{NC}\) , which represented carbonization products at °C) made of carbon nanoparticles combined with metallic Fe-Co-doped N-enriched bridged carbon nanotube by carbonization of a pristine ZIF8 as highly efficient and durable ORR electrocatalysts. The obtained Fe–Co–NC structure possesses 3D open porous texture, abundant active sites, desired nitrogen bonding type, and high specific surface area, providing them with excellent ORR activity. The optimal performing \(\textrm{Fe}-\textrm{Co}-\textrm{NC}\) catalyst presents an outstanding ORR performance in terms of a high onset potential ( \(\textrm{E}_{\text{ onset } }\) ) of 0.96 V (vs. RHE) and half-wave potential ( \(\textrm{E}_{1 / 2}\) ) of 0.86 V (vs. RHE), respectively, possible to rival those of the commercially available \(\textrm{Pt} / \textrm{C}\) in an alkaline electrolyte solution. Besides, the \(\textrm{Fe}-\textrm{Co}-\textrm{NC}\) catalyst manifests better stability than those of commercially available \(\textrm{Pt} / \textrm{C}\) , which is of importance for the optimization and characterization of novel electrocatalysts originated from non-precious metals.