Ordered mesoporous porphyrinic carbons with very high electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction.
The high cost of the platinum-based cathode catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has impeded the widespread application of polymer electrolyte fuel cells. We report on a new family of non-precious metal catalysts based on ordered mesoporous porphyrinic carbons (M-OMPC; M = Fe, Co, or FeCo) with high surface areas and tunable pore structures, which were prepared by nanocasting mesoporous silica templates with metalloporphyrin precursors. The FeCo-OMPC catalyst exhibited an excellent ORR activity in an acidic medium, higher than other non-precious metal catalysts. It showed higher kinetic current at 0.9 V than Pt/C catalysts, as well as superior long-term durability and MeOH-tolerance. Density functional theory calculations in combination with extended X-ray absorption fine structure analysis revealed a weakening of the interaction between oxygen atom and FeCo-OMPC compared to Pt/C. This effect and high surface area of FeCo-OMPC appear responsible for its significantly high ORR activity.
Department of Chemistry, School of Nano-Bioscience and Chemical Engineering, KIER-UNIST Advanced Center for Energy, and Low-Dimensional Carbon Materials Center, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), 50 UNIST-gil, Ulsan 689-798, Republic of Korea.
Jae Yeong
JY
Cheon
Taeyoung
T
Kim
Yongman
Y
Choi
Hu Young
HY
Jeong
Min Gyu
MG
Kim
Young Jin
YJ
Sa
Jaesik
J
Kim
Zonghoon
Z
Lee
Tae-Hyun
TH
Yang
Kyungjung
K
Kwon
Osamu
O
Terasaki
Gu-Gon
GG
Park
Radoslav R
RR
Adzic
Sang Hoon
SH
Joo