Bulk Production of Non-Precious Metal Catalysts with High Surface Area and Excellent Activity in the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Developing oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts, which have non-precious metal or metal-free features, high performance, and stability to enhance the whole price/performance ratio, has become a great challenge in the practical application of fuel cells and zinc air batteries. Here, we report the bulk preparation of the N, Fe co-doped carbon with high surface area (NFe-C-HSA). The typical catalyst has a three-dimension network structure. The N, Fe co-doped nanoporous carbon material has a very high surface area, with a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of 1776.68 m(2 )g(-1), and a total pore volume of 1.58 cm3 g(-1) NFe C-HSA exhibits superior ORR activity to state-of-the-art Pt/C (20%) catalyst and excellent stability in alkaline media as well as high ORR activity in acidic media. In the practical application of Zn air batteries, NFe-C-HAS also has superior performance to Pt/C (20%). Owing to the high surface area and co-doping of nitrogen and iron elements, the prepared nanoporous carbon material may have other applications in many fields such as supercapacitors, sewage treatment, sensors, gas uptake, and so on.