Enhanced Oxygen Reduction Reaction by In Situ Anchoring Fe2N Nanoparticles on Nitrogen-Doped Pomelo Peel-Derived Carbon
Yiqing Wang,
Mingyuan Zhu,
Gang Wang,
Bin Dai,
Feng Yu,
Zhiqun Tian,
Xuhong Guo
Affiliations
Yiqing Wang
Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
Mingyuan Zhu
Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
Gang Wang
Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
Bin Dai
Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
Feng Yu
Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
Zhiqun Tian
Collaborative Innovation Center of Renewable Energy Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Xuhong Guo
Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
The development of effective oxygen electrode catalysts for renewable energy technologies such as metal-air batteries and fuel cells remains challenging. Here, we prepared a novel high-performance oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst comprised of Fe2N nanoparticles (NPs) in situ decorated over an N-doped porous carbon derived from pomelo peel (i.e., Fe2N/N-PPC). The decorated Fe2N NPs provided large quantities of Fe-N-C bonding catalytic sites. The as-obtained Fe2N/N-PPC showed superior onset and half-wave potentials (0.966 and 0.891 V, respectively) in alkaline media (0.1 M KOH) compared to commercial Pt/C through a direct four-electron reaction pathway. Fe2N/N-PPC also showed better stability and methanol tolerance than commercial Pt/C. The outstanding ORR performance of Fe2N/N-PPC was attributed to its high specific surface area and the synergistic effects of Fe2N NPs. The utilization of agricultural wastes as a precursor makes Fe2N/N-PPC an ideal non-precious metal catalyst for ORR applications.
