Nitrogen-rich mesoporous carbon derived from melamine with high electrocatalytic performance for oxygen reduction reaction

Melamine-derived N-doped mesoporous carbon (MNMC) is synthesized by the pyrolysis of lysine and melamineunder at nitrogen atmosphere using ferric chloride as a dopant and SiO 2 nanoparticles as hard templates to form mesoporous architecture. The N content in the bulk of carbon materials is as high as 11.3% and ca. 40.6% of N is in the form of pyridinic-N. The surface area of MNMC is ca. 650 m 2  g −1 with a pore size distribution in the range of 2.2–34.5 nm. Compared to commercial Pt/C (20 wt%), MNMC exhibits much better electrocatalytic activity , better durability, and higher methanol tolerance for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline medium . Particularly, the onset ORR potential and half-wave ORR potential of MNMC are 1.059 and 0.871 V vs . RHE respectively, which are higher than those of commercial Pt/C.