Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2016, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (7): 1103-1108.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(16)62471-3

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A mesoporous Fe/N/C ORR catalyst for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Wei Shia, Yu-Cheng Wanga, Chi Chena,b, Xiao-Dong Yanga, Zhi-You Zhoua, Shi-Gang Suna   

  1. a. State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian, China;
    b. State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
  • Received:2016-04-17 Revised:2016-05-11 Online:2016-06-17 Published:2016-06-17
  • Contact: Xiao-Dong Yang, Zhi-You Zhou
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of Chain (973 Program, 2015CB932300), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21373175, 21321062, 21361140374), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (20720150109).

Abstract:

Fe/N/C is a promising non-platinum catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Even so, mass transfer remains a challenge in the application of Fe/N/C to proton exchange membrane fuel cells, due to the high catalyst loadings required. In the present work, mesoporous Fe/N/C was synthesized through heat treatment of KJ600 carbon black coated with poly-2-aminobenzimidazole and FeCl3. The as-prepared Fe/N/C possesses a unique hollow-shell structure that contains a buffer zone allowing both water formation and vaporization, and also facilitates the mass transfer of gaseous oxygen. This catalyst generated an oxygen reduction reaction activity of 9.21 A/g in conjunction with a peak power density of 0.71 W/cm2.

Key words: Fe/N/C catalyst, Non-platinum catalyst, Oxygen reduction reaction, Mesopore, Hollow-shell structure