Functionalized halloysite template-assisted polyaniline synthesis high-efficiency iron/nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes towards nonprecious ORR catalysts

The iron-functionalized halloysite nanotudes is synthesized as a tubular template from an iron-nitrogen co-doped carbon nanocatalyst derived from the polyaniline pyrolysis of Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The use of iron-doped sites exposes the surface of the material to more graphite defects, effectively increasing the specific surface area of the carbon nanotubes and optimizing the density of the nitrogen-containing active sites. We have found that this iron-nitrogen co-doped carbon nanotube exhibits a superior ORR performance with a half-wave potential of 0.77 V in the 0.1 mol L⁻¹ KOH aqueous solution. The electrochemical stability test was carried out at 1600 rpm. The half-wave potential showed only a degradation of 8 mV, which was better than the commercial 20% Pt/C (18 mV). This study developed an economical method for the direct synthesis of iron-nitrogen co-doped carbon nanotubes using a hard template.