Recent advances in carbon-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction

Fuel cells are one of the most promising clean energy devices to substitute for fossil fuel in the future to alleviate energy crisis and environmental pollution.As the key reaction on the cathode in the fuel cells,oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)still requires efficient noble metal catalysts such as the comme rcial Pt/C to boost the reaction for its sluggish kinetics.Therefore,it is critical to design earth-abundant carbonbased catalysts with high efficiency and long-term stability to replace the noble metal-based catalysts.This review focuses on the recent progress about carbon-based ORR catalysts including non-metal doped carbon materials,transition metal-nitrogen-carbon species,transition metal carbides/carbon,single atom catalysts,and other carbon hybrids.And we further infer that the excellent ORR performances can be achieved by the balance of geometric and electronic structures of catalysts such as conductivity,surface area,hierarchical porous structure,defect and doping effect.Additionally,the perspective development trend is also proposed to guide the rational designation of carbon-based catalysts for ORR and even extend to other energy storage and conversion fields in the future.     

Cu/Cu_2O nanoparticles co-regulated carbon catalyst for alkaline Al-air batteries

Developing high-efficiency,inexpensive,and steady non-precious metal oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) catalysts to displace Pt-based catalysts is significant for commercial applications of Al-air battery.Here,we have prepared the Cu/Cu_2 O-NC catalyst with excellent ORR performance and high stability,due to the synergistic effect of Cu and Cu_2 O nanoparticles.The half-wave potential(0.8 V) and the limiting-current density(5.20 mA/cm~2) of the Cu/Cu_2 O-NC are very close to those of the 20% Pt/C catalyst(0.82 V,5.10 mA/cm~2).Besides,it exhibits excellent performance with a maximal power density of 250 mW/cm~2 and a stable continuous discharge for more than 90 h in the Al-air battery test The promoting effects of Cu_2 O towards Cu-based ORR catalysts are illustrated as follows:(ⅰ) Cu_2 O is the major ORR active site by the redox of Cu(Ⅱ)/Cu(Ⅰ),which provides excellent ORR activities;(ⅱ) Cu can stabilize the location of Cu_2 O by assisting the electron transfer to Cu(Ⅱ)/Cu(Ⅰ) redox,which is conducive to the high stability of the catalyst.This work provides a useful strategy for enhancing the ORR performance of Cu-based catalysts.     

Reduced formation of peroxide and radical species stabilises iron-based hybrid catalysts in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

The incorporation of Pt into an iron-nitrogen-carbon(Fe NC)catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)was recently shown to enhance catalyst stability without Pt directly contributing to the ORR activity.However,the mechanistic origin of this stabilisation remained obscure.It is established herein with rotating ring disc experiments that the side product,H₂O₂,which is known to damage FeNC catalysts,is suppressed by the presence of Pt.The formation of reactive oxygen species is additionally inhibited,independent of intrinsic H₂O₂ formation,as determined by electron paramagnetic resonance.Transmission electron microscopy identifies an oxidised Fe-rich layer covering the Pt particles,thus explaining the inactivity of the latter towards the ORR.These insights develop understanding of Fe NC degradation mechanisms during ORR catalysis,and crucially establish the required properties of a precious metal free protective catalyst to improve Fe NC stability in acidic media.     

Oxygen-deficient titania as alternative support for Pt catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction

Insufficient electrochemical stability is a major challenge for carbon materials in oxygen reduction reaction （ORR） due to carbon corrosion and insufficient metal-support interactions. In this work, titania is explored as an alternative support for Pt catalysts. Oxygen deficient titania samples including TiO2-x and TiO2_xNy were obtained by thermal treatment of anatase TiO2 under flowing H2 and NH3, respectively. Pt nanoparticles were deposited on the titania by a modified ethylene glycol method. The samples were characterized by N2-physisorption, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The ORR activity and long-term stability of supported Pt catalysts were evaluated using linear sweep voltammetry and chronoamperometry in 0.1 mol/L HC104. Pt/TiO2_x and Pt/TiO2_xNy showed higher ORR activities than Pt/TiO2 as indicated by higher onset potentials. Oxygen deficiency in TiO2-x and TiO2-xNy contributed to the high ORR activity due to enhanced charge transfer, as disclosed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy studies. Electrochemical stability studies revealed that Pt/TiOE_x exhibited a higher stability with a lower current decay rate than commercial Pt/C, which can be attributed to the stable oxide support and strong interaction between Pt nanoparticles and the oxygen-deficient TiO2-x support.     

Synthesis of dual-doped non-precious metal electrocatalysts and their electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction

The pyrolyzed carbon supported ferrum polypyrrole(Fe-N/C) catalysts are synthesized with or without selected dopants, p-toluenesulfonic acid(TsOH), by a facile thermal annealing approach at desired temperature for optimizing their activity for the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) in O2-saturated 0.1 mol/L KOH solution. The electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry(CV) and rotating disk electrode(RDE) are employed with the Koutecky-Levich theory to quantitatively obtain the ORR kinetic constants and the reaction mechanisms. It is found that catalysts doped with TsOH show significantly improved ORR activity relative to the TsOH-free one. The average electron transfer numbers for the catalyzed ORR are determined to be 3.899 and 3.098, respectively, for the catalysts with and without TsOH-doping. The heat-treatment is found to be a necessary step for catalyst activity improvement, and the catalyst pyrolyzed at 600℃ gives the best ORR activity. An onset potential and the potential at the current density of-1.5 mA/cm2 for TsOH-doped catalyst after pyrolysis are 30 mV and 170 mV, which are more positive than those without pyrolized. Furthermore, the catalyst doped with TsOH shows higher tolerance to methanol compared with commercial Pt/C catalyst in 0.1 mol/L KOH. To understand this TsOH doping and pyrolyzed effect, X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscope(SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) are used to characterize these catalysts in terms of their structure and composition. XPS results indicate that the pyrrolic-N groups are the most active sites, a finding that is supported by the correspondence between changes in pyridinic-N content and ORR activity that occur with changing temperature. Sulfur species are also structurally bound to carbon in the forms of C–Sn–C, an additional beneficial factor for the ORR.     

Nitrogen Doped Carbon as Efficient Catalyst toward Oxygen Reduction Reaction

A kind of nitrogen-doped carbon(NC) nanomaterials was prepared via calcining the nitrogen-rich organic molecular glycoluril under nitrogen atmosphere. Elemental analysis result indicates the N content of the obtained NC is 13.9 wt.%. Electrochemical measurement demonstrated that the obtained NC catalyst is an efficient ORR electrocatalyst in alkaline electrolyte. The process of ORR is dominated by a four-electron transfer pathway with the most efficient catalytic activity. In addition, the NC catalyst exhibits excellent stability and good resistance to methanol poisoning. After 10000 s of chronoamperometric durability test, the relative current of NC catalyst retained as high as 95%. This work provides a new strategy for the preparation of cost-effective ORR catalysts with high catalytic performance.     

Synthesis of dual-doped non-precious metal electrocatalysts and their electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction

The pyrolyzed carbon supported ferrum polypyrrole(Fe-N/C) catalysts are synthesized with or without selected dopants, p-toluenesulfonic acid(TsOH), by a facile thermal annealing approach at desired temperature for optimizing their activity for the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) in O2-saturated 0.1 mol/L KOH solution. The electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry(CV) and rotating disk electrode(RDE) are employed with the Koutecky-Levich theory to quantitatively obtain the ORR kinetic constants and the reaction mechanisms. It is found that catalysts doped with TsOH show significantly improved ORR activity relative to the TsOH-free one. The average electron transfer numbers for the catalyzed ORR are determined to be 3.899 and 3.098, respectively, for the catalysts with and without TsOH-doping. The heat-treatment is found to be a necessary step for catalyst activity improvement, and the catalyst pyrolyzed at 600℃ gives the best ORR activity. An onset potential and the potential at the current density of-1.5 mA/cm2 for TsOH-doped catalyst after pyrolysis are 30 mV and 170 mV, which are more positive than those without pyrolized. Furthermore, the catalyst doped with TsOH shows higher tolerance to methanol compared with commercial Pt/C catalyst in 0.1 mol/L KOH. To understand this TsOH doping and pyrolyzed effect, X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscope(SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) are used to characterize these catalysts in terms of their structure and composition. XPS results indicate that the pyrrolic-N groups are the most active sites, a finding that is supported by the correspondence between changes in pyridinic-N content and ORR activity that occur with changing temperature. Sulfur species are also structurally bound to carbon in the forms of C–Sn–C, an additional beneficial factor for the ORR.     

SO2-tolerant Pt-MoO3/C catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

A Pt-MoO3/C catalyst,aimed to eliminate the harmful effect of sulfur dioxide（SCb） on the performance of Pt nanoparticles（NPs） for catalysis of oxygen reduction reaction（ORR） in proton exchange membrane fuel cells（PEMFC）,is developed and characterized by TEM,XRD and XPS.The results reveal that Pt-MoO3/C catalyst exhibits not only a higher catalytic activity,but also a better SO2 poisoning resistance and a better recovery performance than the commercial Pt/C catalyst does.     

Active sites engineering of Pt/CNT oxygen reduction catalysts by atomic layer deposition

Understanding carbon-supported Pt-catalyzed oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)from the perspective of the active sites is of fundamental and practical importance.In this study,three differently sized carbon nanotube-supported Pt nanoparticles(Pt/CNT)are prepared by both atomic layer deposition(ALD)and impregnation methods.The performances of the catalysts toward the ORR in acidic media are comparatively studied to probe the effects of the sizes of the Pt nanoparticles together with their distributions,electronic properties,and local environments.The ALD-Pt/CNT catalysts show much higher ORR activity and selectivity than the impregnation-Pt/CNT catalysts.This outstanding ORR performance is ascribed to the well-controlled Pt particle sizes and distributions,desirable Pt^04f binding energy,and the Cl-free Pt surfaces based on the electrocatalytic measurements,catalyst characterizations,and model calculations.The insights reported here could guide the rational design and fine-tuning of carbon-supported Pt catalysts for the ORR.     

Platinum catalysts supported on Nafion functionalized carbon black for fuel cell application

We report a high performance supported Pt catalyst, in which a perfluorosulfonic acid (Nafion) functionalized carbon black is used as support. The catalyst is characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The TEM image shows that the active Pt component is in nanoparticles and highly dispersed on the carbon black with an average particle size of 1.9 nm. The catalyst shows improved activity towards the methanol anodic oxidation and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), resulting from the high dispersion of active Pt component. It leads to increases in electrochemically accessible surface areas and ion channels, as well as easier chargetransfer at polymer/electrolyte interfaces. The high platinum utilization and high performance of Pt/Nafion-C catalyst make it a promising electrocatalyst for fuel cell application.     

Facile synthesis of Zr-and Ta-based catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction

Cathode catalysts for direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs) must have high catalytic activity for the oxy‐gen reduction reaction (ORR), low cost, and high tolerance to the presence of methanol or ethanol. Pt is the benchmark catalyst for this application owing to its excellent electrocatalytic activity, but its high cost and low tolerance to the organic fuel permeating through the membrane have hindered the commercialization of DAFCs. Herein we present a facile synthesis route to obtain organic fuel‐tolerant Zr‐ and Ta‐based catalysts supported on carbon. This method consists of a simple precipitation of metal precursors followed by a heat treatment. X‐ray diffraction analyses confirmed that the obtained samples were crystalline ZrO2?x and Na2Ta8O21?x having crystallite sizes of 26 and 32 nm, respectively. The thermal treatment effectively increased the activity of the catalysts to‐wards the ORR, although further optimization is necessary. Both catalysts exhibited a high tolerance to the presence of methanol with only a moderate reduction in ORR activity even at high methanol concentration (0.5 mol/L).     

Cobalt sulfides as efficient catalyst towards oxygen reduction reactions

Developing low-cost and high performance catalysts to replace precious metal based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) is one of the most feasible ways to promote the commercial application of fuel cells.In this work,flower-like CoS and octahedral CoS_2 are synthesized by a facile one-pot hydrothermal method without any adjunction of surfactants or follow-up thermolysis,their catalytic performance towards ORR in alkaline electrolyte are comparatively investigated.The results reveal that CoS_2 outperforms CoS owing to the higher electron density around S-S bond of S_2^2- in the crystal structure,which promotes the adsorption of oxygen on catalyst surface and facilitates the breakage of O-O bond in oxygen,leading to direct 4-electron transfer ORR.When CoS_2 particles are dispersed on the surface of rGO with large surface area,their ORR performance could be further improved.     

Insights into efficient transition metal-nitrogen/carbon oxygen reduction electrocatalysts

It is of vital importance to accelerate the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)process at the cathode with earth-abundant metal-based catalysts for the commercialization of low-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells.In consideration of high catalytic activity,long-term stability and low cost of potential ORR electrocatalysts,transition metal species have attracted much interest and transition metal-nitrogen-carbon(M-N/C,M=Fe,Co,Ni,Mn,etc.)catalysts have been widely considered as the most promising non-precious metal catalysts for ORR.Herein,the fundamental understanding of ORR catalytic mechanism and the identification of active centers are briefly introduced,and then different M-N/C catalysts classified by precursors with the strategies for design and optimization are highlighted.The challenges and possible opportunity for future development of high-performance ORR catalysts are finally proposed.     

Ultra-small platinum nanoparticles segregated by nickle sites for efficient ORR and HER processes

In the electrochemical process,Pt nanoparticles(NPs)in Pt-based catalysts usually agglomerate due to Oswald ripening or lack of restraint,ultimately resulting in reduction of the active sites and catalytic efficiency.How to uniformly disperse and firmly fix Pt NPs on carbon matrix with suitable particle size for catalysis is still a big challenge.Herein,to prevent the agglomeration and shedding of Pt NPs,Ni species is introduced and are evenly dispersed in the surface of carbon matrix in the form of Ni-N-C active sites(Ni ZIF-NC).The Ni sites can be used to anchor Pt NPs,and then effectively limit the further growth and agglomeration of Pt NPs during the reaction process.Compared with commercial Pt/C catalyst,Pt@Ni ZIF-NC,with ultralow Pt loading(7 wt%)and ideal particle size(2.3 nm),not only increases the active center,but also promotes the catalysis kinetics,greatly improving the ORR and HER catalytic activity.Under acidic conditions,its half-wave potential(0.902 V)is superior to commercial Pt/C(0.861 V),and the mass activity(0.38 A per mg Pt)at 0.9 V is 4.7 times that of Pt/C(0.08 A per mg Pt).Besides,it also shows outstanding HER performance.At 20 and 30 mV,its mass activity is even 2 and 6 times that of Pt/C,respectively.Whether it is under ORR or HER conditions,it still shows excellent durability.These undoubtedly indicate the realization of dual-functional catalysts with low-Pt and high-efficiency properties.     

Structure and Performance of Fe-N_x-C Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction Prepared by Vacuum Casting Method and the Second Pyrolysis

Affordable non-precious metal(NPM) catalysts played a vital role in the wide application of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells(PEMFC). In current work, a facile vacuum casting reacting method based on vacuum casting was introduced to prepare Fe-N_x-C oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) catalysts with high efficient in acid medium. The catalysts were prepared with ammonium ferrous sulfate hexahydrate(AFS) and 1,10-phenanthroline monohydrate utilizing homemade mesoporous silica template. The heat treatment and its influence on structure and performance were systematically evaluated to achieve superior ORR performance and some clues were found. And 850 ℃ was found to be the best temperature for the first and second pyrolysis. The linear sweep voltammetry(LSV) results showed that there were only 18 mV slightly negative shifts of half-wave potential(E_(1/2)) of the optimal catalyst(749 mV) compared with the commercial Pt/C(20 μg·Pt·cm~(-2)). Besides, I850 R also showed better electrochemical stability and methanol-tolerance than that of Pt/C. All evidences proved that our vacuum casting reacting strategy and heat treatment process were prospective for the future RD of high performance Fe-N_x-C ORR catalysts.     

SC-IrO2NR-carbon hybrid: A catalyst with high electrochemical stability for oxygen reduction

The enhanced electrochemical stability of the synthesized hybrid catalyst has been demonstrated by the introduction of the synergistic effect between carbon powder additive and the prepared catalyst.Single crystal IrO 2 nanorod (SC-IrO 2 NR) catalyst was prepared by a sol-gel method.The structure and performance of the catalyst sample were characterized by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD),scanning electron microscope (SEM),transmission electron microscope (TEM),rotating disk electrode (RDE) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements.XRD patterns and TEM images indicate that the catalyst sample has a rutile IrO 2 single crystal nanorod structure.The onset potential for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) of the SC-IrO 2 NR-carbon hybrid catalyst specimen is 0.75 V (vs.RHE) in RDE measurement.CV and RDE test results show that the SC-IrO 2 NR-carbon hybrid catalyst has a better electrochemical stability in comparison with the commercial Pt/C catalyst,with attenuation ratios of 17.67% and 44.60% for the SC-IrO 2 NR-carbon hybrid catalyst and the commercial Pt/C catalyst after 1500 cycles,respectively.Therefore,in terms of stability,the SC-IrO 2 NR-carbon hybrid catalyst has a promising potential in the application of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell.     

Methanol Tolerant PWA-Pt/C Catalyst with Excellent Electrocatalytic Activity for Oxygen Reduction in Direct Methanol Fuel Cell

It was reported for the first time that phosphorictungstenic acid （PWA） could promote the oxygen reduction reaction （ORR） and inhibit the methanol oxidation reaction at the cathodic Pt/C catalyst in the direct methanol fuel cell （DMFC）. When the weight ratio of PWA to Pt/C is 1, the composite catalyst increases the reduction current of oxygen by about 38% and decreases the oxidation current of methanol by about 76% compared with that of the Pt/C catalyst.     

Platinum monolayers stabilized on dealloyed AuCu core-shell nanoparticles for improved activity and stability on methanol oxidation reaction

Deposition of platinum(Pt)monolayers(PtML)on Au substrate represents a robust strategy to maximally utilize the Pt atoms and meanwhile achieve high catalytic activity towards methanol oxidation reaction for direct methanol fuel cells owing to a substrate-induced tensile strain effect.However,recent studies showed that Pt(ML)on Au substrate are far from perfect smooth monoatomic layer,but actually exhibited three-dimensional nanoclusters.Moreover,the Pt(ML)suffered from severe structural instability and thus activity degradation during long-term electrocatalysis.To regulate the growth of Pt(ML)Au surface and also to improve its structural stability,we exploit dealloyed AuCu core-shell nanoparticles as a new substrate for depositing Pt(ML).By using high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray elemental mapping combined with electrochemical characte rizations,we reveal that the dealloyed AuCu core-shell nanoparticles can effectively promote the deposition of Pt(ML)closer to a smooth monolayer structure,thus leading to a higher utilization efficiency of Pt and higher intrinsic activity towards methanol oxidation compared to those on pure Au nanoparticles.Moreover,the Pt(ML)deposited on the AuCu core-shell NPs showed substa ntially enhanced stability compared to those on pure Au NPs during long-term electrocatalysis over several hours,during which segregation of Cu to the Au/Pt interface was revealed and suggested to play an important role in stabilizing the Pt(ML)catalysts.     

Fluorescence detection of hydroxyl radical generated from oxygen reduction on Fe/N/C catalyst

Pyrolyzed Fe/N/C catalyst has been considered as the most promising candidate to replace Pt for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) in fuel cells.However,poor stability of Fe/N/C catalyst,mainly attributed to the oxidation corrosion by aggressive ·OH radical,severely hampers its applications.However,the exact mechanism for generation of ·OH is unclear yet.Herein,we developed a fluorescent method to effectively detect ·OH generated from ORR on Fe/N/C catalyst by using coumarin as a fluorescent probe.A great difference in potential dependence between ·OH and H2O2 generated from the ORR was observed,which suggests that ·OH is not generated from the decomposition of H2O2 as traditional viewpoint.     

Characterization of Fe/N-doped graphene as air-cathode catalyst in microbial fuel cells

This work proposed a simple and efficient approach for synthesis of durable and efficient non-precious metal oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) electro-catalysts in MFCs. The rod-like carbon nanotubes(CNTs)were formed on the Fe–N/SLG sheets after a carbonization process. The maximum power density of1210 ± 23 m W·m~(-2) obtained with Fe–N/SLG catalyst in an MFC was 10.7% higher than that of Pt/C catalyst(1080 ± 20 mW ·m~(-2)) under the same condition. The results of RDE test show that the ORR electron transfer number of Fe–N/SLG was 3.91 ± 0.02, which suggested that ORR catalysis proceeds through a four-electron pathway. The whole time of the synthesis of electro-catalysts is about 10 h, making the research take a solid step in the MFC expansion due to its low-cost, high efficiency and favorable electrochemical performance. Besides, we compared the electrochemical properties of catalysts using SLG, high conductivity graphene(HCG, a kind of multilayer graphene) and high activity graphene(HAG, a kind of GO) under the same conditions, providing a solution for optimal selection of cathode catalyst in MFCs.The morphology, crystalline structure, elemental composition and ORR activity of these three kinds of Fe–N/C catalysts were characterized. Their ORR activities were compared with commercial Pt/C catalyst.It demonstrates that this kind of Fe–N/SLG can be a type of promising highly efficient catalyst and could enhance ORR performance of MFCs.