Oxygen Reduction on Transition-Metal Porphyrins in Acid Electrolyte II. Stability

Cobalt/nitrogen codoped carbon nanosheets derived from catkins as a high performance non-noble metal electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction and hydrogen evolution reaction

Novel energy devices which are capable of alleviating and/or solving the energy dilemma such as overall water splitting and fuel cells require the development of highly efficient catalysts, especially cheap high performance non-precious metal (NPM) catalysts. Here, we prepare highly efficient NPM catalysts of cobalt and nitrogen codoped carbon nanosheets (Co/N-CNSs) for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) using harmful environment-polluting waste of biomass catkins as carbon precursors via a mild mechanical exfoliation and chemical process which is facile, low-cost, environmentally friendly and up-scalable. Compared with a commercial platinum-based catalyst (commercial 20% Pt/C), the Co/N-CNS electrocatalysts show outstanding ORR activity, acceptable HER activity and long term stability with an onset potential of 0.92 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (vs. RHE) and a half-wave potential of 0.83 V vs. the RHE in alkaline electrolytes. The excellent performance is closely related to the presence of abundant CoN _x active sites. This work offers a novel and effective approach for preparing highly efficient ORR and HER NPM electrocatalysts from waste biomass materials.

A pyridinic Fe-N4 macrocycle models the active sites in Fe/N-doped carbon electrocatalysts

Iron- and nitrogen-doped carbon (Fe-N-C) materials are leading candidates to replace platinum catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells; however, their active site structures remain poorly understood. A leading postulate is that the iron-containing active sites exist primarily in a pyridinic Fe-N₄ ligation environment, yet, molecular model catalysts generally feature pyrrolic coordination. Herein, we report a molecular pyridinic hexaazacyclophane macrocycle, (phen₂N₂)Fe, and compare its spectroscopic, electrochemical, and catalytic properties for ORR to a typical Fe-N-C material and prototypical pyrrolic iron macrocycles. N 1s XPS and XAS signatures for (phen₂N₂)Fe are remarkably similar to those of Fe-N-C. Electrochemical studies reveal that (phen₂N₂)Fe has a relatively high Fe(III/II) potential with a correlated ORR onset potential within 150 mV of Fe-N-C. Unlike the pyrrolic macrocycles, (phen₂N₂)Fe displays excellent selectivity for four-electron ORR, comparable to Fe-N-C materials. The aggregate spectroscopic and electrochemical data demonstrate that (phen₂N₂)Fe is a more effective model of Fe-N-C active sites relative to the pyrrolic iron macrocycles, thereby establishing a new molecular platform that can aid understanding of this important class of catalytic materials.

Oxygen reduction reaction catalyzed by overhanging carboxylic acid strapped iron porphyrins adsorbed on carbon nanotubes

A series of hybrid catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has been investigated. They are composed of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) coated with iron strapped porphyrins. Two porphyrins have been probed; both are strapped with the same skeleton and differ only by the number of overhung carboxylic acid(s), either one or two. In this structure, the carboxylic acid group can act as a proton relay between the medium and the catalyst or as a polar group surrounding the dioxygen binding cavity. While the number of carboxylic acid group(s) does not exhibit a significant influence on the catalytic properties, the combination of both components–MWNTs and porphyrin–leads to a better catalytic activity than those of the nanotubes or the porphyrins taken separately.

Recent Advances in Non-Precious Transition Metal/Nitrogen-doped Carbon for Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts in PEMFCs

The proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have been considered as promising future energy conversion devices, and have attracted immense scientific attention due to their high efficiency and environmental friendliness. Nevertheless, the practical application of PEMFCs has been seriously restricted by high cost, low earth abundance and the poor poisoning tolerance of the precious Pt-based oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts. Noble-metal-free transition metal/nitrogen-doped carbon (M–NxC) catalysts have been proven as one of the most promising substitutes for precious metal catalysts, due to their low costs and high catalytic performance. In this review, we summarize the development of M–NxC catalysts, including the previous non-pyrolyzed and pyrolyzed transition metal macrocyclic compounds, and recent developed M–NxC catalysts, among which the Fe–NxC and Co–NxC catalysts have gained our special attention. The possible catalytic active sites of M–NxC catalysts towards the ORR are also analyzed here. This review aims to provide some guidelines towards the design and structural regulation of non-precious M–NxC catalysts via identifying real active sites, and thus, enhancing their ORR electrocatalytic performance.

Recent progress in pyrolyzed carbon materials as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction

This review reports some recent advances in pyrolytic carbon as an ORR catalyst and explores its structure–activity relationship.

Identification of Catalytic Sites for Oxygen Reduction in Metal/Nitrogen-Doped Carbons with Encapsulated Metal Nanoparticles

The development of metal-N-C materials as efficient non-precious metal (NPM) catalysts for catalysing the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) as alternatives to platinum is important for the practical use of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). However, metal-N-C materials have high structural heterogeneity. As a result of their high-temperature synthesis they often consist of metal-N_x sites and graphene-encapsulated metal nanoparticles. Thus it is hard to identify the active structure of metal-N-C catalysts. Herein, we report a low-temperature NH₄ Cl-treatment to etch out graphene-encapsulated nanoparticles from metal-N-C catalysts without destruction of co-existing atomically dispersed metal-N_x sites. Catalytic activity is much enhanced by this selective removal of metallic nanoparticles. Accordingly, we can confirm the spectator role of graphene-encapsulated nanoparticles and the pivotal role of metal-N_x sites in the metal-N-C materials for ORR in the acidic medium.

Sustainable Hydrothermal Carbonization Synthesis of Iron/Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanofiber Aerogels as Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction

It is urgent to develop new kinds of low-cost and high-performance nonprecious metal (NPM) catalysts as alternatives to Pt-based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells and metal-air batteries, which have been proved to be efficient to meet the challenge of increase of global energy demand and CO₂ emissions. Here, an economical and sustainable method is developed for the synthesis of Fe, N codoped carbon nanofibers (Fe-N/CNFs) aerogels as efficient NPM catalysts for ORR via a mild template-directed hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process, where cost-effective biomass-derived d(+)-glucosamine hydrochloride and ferrous gluconate are used as precursors and recyclable ultrathin tellurium nanowires are used as templates. The prepared Fe/N-CNFs catalysts display outstanding ORR activity, i.e., onset potential of 0.88 V and half-wave potential of 0.78 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode in an alkaline medium, which is highly comparable to that of commercial Pt/C (20 wt% Pt) catalyst. Furthermore, the Fe/N-CNFs catalysts exhibit superior long-term stability and better tolerance to the methanol crossover effect than the Pt/C catalyst in both alkaline and acidic electrolytes. This work suggests the great promise of developing new families of NPM ORR catalysts by the economical and sustainable HTC process.

Monomeric and Polymeric Tetra-aminophthalocyanatocobalt(II) Modified Electrodes: Electrocatalytic Reduction of Oxygen

The monomeric and polymeric tetra-aminophthalocyane to, cobalt(II) species adsorbed onto graphite electrodes are active in electrocatalytic oxygen reduction. While the monomeric species is unstable, the polymerized species is an effective and stable reduction catalyst over a wide pH range. Both the two-electron reduction of oxygen to hydrogen peroxide and the four-electron reduction of oxygen to water are characterized by cyclic voltammetry, rotating disc and rotating ring-disc studies with appropriate theoretical analysis. Some mechanistic information is obtained. This is the first cobalt phthalocyanine species to provide a four-electron reduction pathway which exists over a wide pH range and is stable. The stability is associated with the polymerization since the monomeric species is not stable.