Nitrogen-rich mesoporous carbon derived from melamine with high electrocatalytic performance for oxygen reduction reaction

Melamine-derived N-doped mesoporous carbon (MNMC) is synthesized by the pyrolysis of lysine and melamineunder at nitrogen atmosphere using ferric chloride as a dopant and SiO2 nanoparticles as hard templates to form mesoporous architecture. The N content in the bulk of carbon materials is as high as 113% and ca. 40.6% of N is in the form of pyridinic-N. The surface area of MNMC is ca. 650 m(2) g(-1) with a pore size distribution in the range of 2.2-34.5 nm. Compared to commercial Pt/C (20 wt%), MNMC exhibits much better electrocatalytic activity, better durability, and higher methanol tolerance for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline medium. Particularly, the onset ORR potential and half-wave ORR potential of MNMC are 1.059 and 0.871 V vs. RHE respectively, which are higher than those of commercial Pt/C. (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.