Highly efficient Fe/N/C catalyst using adenosine as C/N-source for APEFC

An environmentally friendly precursor, adenosine, has been used as a dual source of C and N to synthesize nitrogen-doped carbon catalyst with/without Fe. A hydrothermal carbonization method has been used and water is the carbonization media. The morphology of samples with/without Fe component has been compared by HRTEM, and the result shows that Fe can promote the graphitization of carbon. Further electro-chemical test shows that the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic activity of Fe-containing sample (C-FeN) is much higher than that of the Fe-free sample (C-N). Additionally, the intermediates of C-FeN formed during each synthetic procedure have been thoroughly characterized by multiple methods, and the function of each procedure has been discussed. The C-FeN sample exhibits high electro-catalytic stability and superior electro-catalytic activity toward ORR in alkaline media, with its half-wave potential 20 mV lower than that of commercial Pt/C (40 wt%). It is further incorporated into alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cell (APEFC) as the cathode material and led to a power density of 100 mW/cm(2). (C) 2017 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.