Templated growth of Fe/N/C catalyst on hierarchically porous carbon for oxygen reduction reaction in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

This work reports a rational design of non-precious metal catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction in acidic media to be used in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. A strategy is designed to avoid the agglomeration of metal compound during the pyrolysis of precursor. MgO template is introduced into a 1-10-phenanthroline-iron (II) precursor to promote the evolution of Fe-Nx active sites while avoiding the formation of inactive species. The template also contributes to the formation of micro/mesoporous structure. The as-prepared catalyst shows good performance in half-cell test with half-wave potential of 0.80 V in acidic media. The catalyst reaches a current density of 0.76 A cm −2  at 0.6 V iR-free along with encouraging durability in H 2 –O 2 fuel cell test.