Synergistic CoFe-Fe5C2 nanocrystal wrapped in N-doped carbon/carbon nanotubes as enhanced and CO-resistant electrocatalyst for methanol oxidation

Herein, a new metal organic framework MOF derived CoFe-Fe 5 C 2 nanoparticles embedded nitrogen doped graphitized carbon/ nitrogen doped carbon nanotubes (CoFe-Fe 5 C 2 @NC/CNTs) heterostructures is successfully achieved through calcination in dicyandiamide atmosphere using Co/Fe-MOF as a precursor. The morphologies display that CoFe and Fe 5 C 2 are uniformly dispersed in the framework of nitrogen doped carbon and dicyandiamide forms NCNTS using cobalt as a graphitization catalyst. The as prepared CoFe-Fe 5 C 2 @NC/CNTs hybrids exhibit remarkable specific properties of 60.23 mA cm −2 and small Tafel slope of 106.2 mV dec −1 in potential window from 0.4 V to 0.9 V towards methanol electro- oxidation reaction (MOR) in alkaline solution. At the same time, it realize more excellent stability comparing to that of CoFe-Fe 5 C 2 @NC electrocatalyst, which attributed to the interconnected ion/electron channels of abundant interfaces anchored nitrogen doped carbon nanotubes and the thin layer nitrogen doped graphitized carbon anchor the ultra-fine Fe 5 C 2 and CoFe particles accelerating the charge transport. More importantly, CoFe-Fe 5 C 2 @NC presents 94.6% retention of initial MOR activity during CO poisoning test. This strategy will provide new ideas for the control of the composite structure of transition metal carbides using MOF derivatives, and provide technical support for the development of efficient and CO-resistant non noble metal electrocatalysts.