Self-Assembly Synthesis of Mulberry-Like Fe/N/S-Doped Highly Porous Carbon Materials: Efficient and Stable Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

In this work, unique structures of mulberry-like Fe/N/S-doped nanoporous carbon materials (NCMs) are synthesized via a simple self-assembly assisted process. The Fe2+-mediated polymerization of dopamine (DA) and further interaction with triblock copolymer F127 micelles induce the formation of mulberry-like Fe/PDA/F127 structures. After carbonization, the Fe/N/S-doped NCMs are obtained with a highly porous structure and large Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 913.2 m(2) g(-1). Moreover, DA and iron salt introduce active sites, such as Sp(2) C, graphitic N, pyridinic N, Fe-N-x, C-S-C, etc. Benefiting from these unique structural features and chemical compositions, the optimized Fe/N/S-doped NCMs exhibit enhanced electrocatalytic activity and excellent durability for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) compared with commercial Pt/C catalyst. These studies provide not only a new synthesis method for heteroatom-doped NCMs, but also a platform for various applications.