Fe,N Co-Doped Mesoporous Carbon Nanosheets for Oxygen Reduction

Carbon nanomaterials codoped with transition metal and nitrogen have appeared as one of the most potential candidates to replace noble metal-based oxygen reduction catalyst. However, it remains a challenge to achieve precise and convenient control over the structural parameters on carbon materials for optimal ORR efficiency. Herein, a straightforward and feasible pore-forming method for fabricating mesoporous carbon nanosheets co-doped with transition metal and nitrogen was rationally designed by tactfully introducing zinc nitrate into the carbonization process. When applied for catalyzing ORR, iron and nitrogen co-doped mesoporous carbon nanosheets synthesized with the aid of zinc nitrate displayed a half-wave potential of 0.92 V, which was significantly better than the catalyst synthesized without zinc nitrate and commercial Pt/C catalyst. Typical catalyst was methanol tolerable and showed only 8% current decay under alkaline condition after 50,000s. The vital roles of zinc nitrate in developing high performance ORR catalysts were also unraveled.