Iron-Nitrogen Co-Doped Carbon-Based Materials and Their Electrochemical Properties

This study addresses the issues of slow oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics and the high cost and poor stability of platinum-based catalysts in fuel cells and metal-air batteries.It develops a non-precious metal catalyst-iron carbide/ferric oxide/iron-nitrogen co-doped carbon microspheres (FeC/FeO/Fe-N-C)-prepared via high-temperature solidstate pyrolysis using melamine and ferrocene as precursors.FeC/FeO/Fe-N-C) non-precious metal catalyst.Systematic investigations revealed that the FeC/FeO/Fe-NC-3 material exhibits a uniform microsphere structure, high specific surface area, abundant Fe-Nx active sites, and highly dispersed FeC and FeO nanoparticles when the ferrocene-tomelamine mass ratio is 1:3.Electro -chemical testing demonstrated that this catalyst exhibits outstanding ORR performance in alkaline media.Its halfwave potential (0.87 V) and onset potential (1.0 V) both surpass those of commercial Pt/C, with a limiting current density reaching 5.34 mAcm.It also exhibits a lower Tafel slope (74.9 mVdec) and charge transfer resistance.Furthermore, this material significantly outperforms Pt/C in longterm stability and resistance to methanol poisoning.When applied to zincair batteries, it demonstrates a high open-circuit voltage (1.55 V), high power density (157.5 mWcm), and excellent rate performance and cycling stability.

Electrochemical cell · Electrode · Thin film · Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion · Electrochemistry · Graphene research and applications · Supercapacitor Materials and Fabrication