Fe7C3-Fe3N/FeNxCy Decorated Carbon Material as Highly Efficient Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Al-Air Batteries

Traditionally, oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) are catalyzed by Pt/C, which is expensive but essentially efficient catalyst. So doping of highly active moieties onto carbon supports could be investigated as a practical and inexpensive strategy for catalysis of ORR. The present study reported noncrystalline FeNxCy species, crystalline Fe7C3 and Fe3N nanoparticles co-decorated ketjenblack (KB) carbon catalyst (denoted as Fe-N-KB-HCl) for ORR prepared using ferrous sulfate, melamine and KB as raw materials. Carbon nanotubes (CNT) were observed in the catalyst, which caused to a high specific surface area (1125 m(2)g(-1)) of the catalyst. The Fe-N-KB-HCl catalyst fabricated in this study exhibited a catalytic performance similar to that of commercial 20% Pt/C for ORR in alkaline solution. Moreover, it exhibited a higher voltage (1.51 V) at a discharge density of 50 mA cm(-2) in an in-house made Al-air battery than that of the commercial 20% Pt/C catalyst (1.45 V). So the Fe-N-KB-HCl catalyst prepared in this study could be used for developing inexpensive but highly efficient catalysts for catalysis of ORR and have potential to be used for commercial purposes.