Fe, N, S-doped porous carbon as oxygen reduction reaction catalyst in acidic medium with high activity and durability synthesized using CaCl2 as template

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells suffer from the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the high cost of Pt catalysts. In the present work, a high-performance ORR catalyst based on Fe, N, S-doped porous carbon (FeNS-PC) was synthesized using melamine formaldehyde resin as C and N precursors, Fe(SCN)(3) as Fe and S precursors, and CaCl2 as a template via a two-step heat treatment without a harsh template removal step. The results show that the catalyst treated at 900 degrees C (FeNS-PC-900) had a high surface area of 775 m(2)/g, a high mass activity of 10.2 A/g in an acidic medium, and excellent durability; the half-wave potential decreased by only 20 mV after 10000 potential cycles. The FeNS-PC-900 catalyst was used as the cathode in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell and delivered a peak power density of 0.49 W/cm(2). FeNS-PC-900 therefore has good potential for use in practical applications. (C) 2017, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.