Nitrogen-Coordinated Iron-Carbon as Efficient Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction and Oxygen Evolution Reactions in Acidic Media

The ORR and OER performances of N-coordinated ironcarbon (FeNC), Ir/C, and Pt/C catalysts were compared using half-cell measurements. The results suggest significant ORR and OER activity for FeNC materials unlike state-of-the-art Ir/C or Pt/C which exhibited high catalytic activity only for one of the two reactions. Bifunctionality analysis on these three catalyst materials reveals significantly lower combined overpotential for FeNC catalysts compared to that for commercial Ir/C and Pt/C samples.