Temperature Impacts on Oxygen Reduction Reaction Measured by the Rotating Disk Electrode Technique

The response of the catalyst oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity to temperature is an important basis for identifying and selecting ORR catalysts which include platinum group metal (PGM) catalysts and PGM-free catalysts (including nonprecious metal catalysts and metal-free catalysts). Rotating disk electrode (RDE) technology is the most commonly used method for assessing ORR activity. Herein, the ORR activity parameters of three representative catalysts Pt/C, Fe-N-C, and N/P-doped carbon nanomaterials were measured by the RDE technique over a wide temperature range of 0-80 degrees C for the first time. Experimental results indicate that due to the significant decrease in oxygen concentration with increasing temperature, Pt/C exhibits the highest activity at similar to 4 degrees C, while Fe-N-C and N/P-C achieve optimum performances at similar to 40 and 60 degrees C respectively, at which the ORR kinetics and oxygen concentration in electrolyte are balanced.