Abstract
? 2022 Elsevier B.V.Transition metal- and nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbons are prepared, characterised, and used as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts in an anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC). Novel mesoporous carbon (MPC) based engineered catalyst support is doped using high-temperature pyrolysis in the presence of metal acetate(s) and 1,10-phenanthroline (nitrogen source). Three transition metals are used to prepare materials with the following metal compositions: Fe, Co, CoFe, FeMn, and CoMn. Physico-chemical characterisation shows the success of doping with similar morphology and textural properties of all materials. The rotating ring-disc electrode experiments in alkaline solution show that all five catalysts exhibit good electrocatalytic activity towards the ORR, with Fe-N-MPC, CoFe-N-MPC and FeMn-N-MPC being best-performing materials with excellent stability. The HO2– yield depends on the metal composition with Fe-N-MPC and FeMn-N-MPC giving the lowest percentage. The latter two are employed in the AEMFC and reach power densities of 473 and 474 mW cm–2, respectively.
NSTL
Elsevier