ALBERT

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: 15 April 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Volume 566〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ming Wu, Jing Xie, Anjie Liu, Wei Jia, Yali Cao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Core-shell Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉C@N〈img src="https://sdfestaticassets-eu-west-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/16/entities/sbnd"〉C nanostructures constructed by Fe〈sub〉3〈/sub〉C core encapsulated in N-doped carbon nanotubes (FFCN-MP4000) is designed and readily prepared via a facile and economical solid-state chemical route. By controlling the proportion of C and N in the starting materials, the composition of Fe〈img src="https://sdfestaticassets-eu-west-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/16/entities/sbnd"〉N〈img src="https://sdfestaticassets-eu-west-1.sciencedirectassets.com/shared-assets/16/entities/sbnd"〉C core-shell nanotubes was optimized, then provided more possible active sites as electrocatalysts, exhibited superior oxygen reduction performance. Onset potential (E〈sub〉onset〈/sub〉) of 0.96 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and half-wave potential (E〈sub〉1/2〈/sub〉) of 0.83 V vs RHE was obtained in 0.1 M KOH, which are comparable to those of the commercial Pt/C catalyst (E〈sub〉onset〈/sub〉 = 0.98 V, E〈sub〉1/2〈/sub〉 = 0.84 V vs RHE). Notably, the limited current density for FFCN-MP4000 can reach to 6.6 mA cm〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉, and it efficiently catalyzes 4-electron reduction of oxygen (n = 3.98) with a hydrogen peroxide yield of below 2.2%. In addition, the methanol tolerance and durability are even superior to commercial Pt/C catalyst. This work provides a facile and economical strategy for the feasible design of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst with high activity and low cost in alternative commercial Pt/C electrocatalyst.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉A facile, low-cost and solution-free synthesis was utilized to achieve Fe-N-C core-shell nanostructures, which exhibited excellent ORR performance in alkaline medium.〈/p〉 〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0021979720300916-ga1.jpg" width="390" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉