Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry

, Volume 21, Issue 10, pp 2909–2920 | Cite as

The synthesis and electro-catalytic activity for ORR of the structured electrode material: CP/Fe-N-CNFs

  • Min Sun
  • Zhiyong Xie
  • Xiaobo Wu
  • Xiaoting Deng
  • Chunxuan Liu
  • Qizhong Huang
  • Boyun Huang
Original Paper
First Online:
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:

Abstract

The structured electrode has the advantages of polymer binder-free, non-precious-metal and without multiple and tedious manual assembly, exhibiting superior electro-catalytic activity for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR), compared with the traditional ink-based electrode. The structured CP/Fe-N-CNFs (Fe and N containing carbon nanofibers (CNFs) in-situ grown on carbon paper (CP)), has been one-step synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). In this paper, it can be concluded that the structured CP/Fe-N-CNFs with 0.30 at.% Fe-N x moieties exerts the most positive onset-potential (−0.05 V), peak potential, and largest peak current density. The measured current density of the structured Fe-N-CNFs at −0.8 V is increased by 56.3% compared to that of the traditional Fe-N-CNFs. The traditional Fe-N-CNFs exhibit stronger alkaline tolerance comparing with commercial Pt electrode. That is, the pronounced catalytic activity of the structured Fe-N-CNFs might attribute to the homogeneous and undiluted active sites compared to that of the traditional Fe-N-CNFs.

Keywords

Structured electrode Non-precious metal Oxidation reduction reactions Chemical vapor deposition 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China N o.2016Y F B0101310, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation N o.2012M511395, and Project Supported by State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha.

Supplementary material

10008_2017_3618_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (1.2 mb)
(PDF 1.20 MB)

References

  1. 1.
    Golikand AN, Asgari M, Lohrasbi E, Yari M (2009) Electrocatalytic oxygen reduction on single-walled carbon nanotubes supported Pt alloys nanoparticles in acidic and alkaline conditions. J Appl Electrochem 39:1369–1377CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. 2.
    Valiollahi R, Ojani R (2016) Pt hollow nanospheres/graphene electrocatalytic ability toward sodium borohydride oxidation: a study of morphology effect on electrocatalytic activity. Journal of Applied Electrochemistry  10.1007/s10800-016-1009-2
  3. 3.
    Yu-Ping LI, Jiang LH, Wang SL, Sun GQ (2016) Multi-Scaled Carbon Supported Platinum as a Stable Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction. J Electrochem 22:135–146Google Scholar
  4. 4.
    Yu S, Wang Y, Zhu H, Wang Z, Han K (2016) Synthesis and electrocatalytic performance of phosphotungstic acid-modified Ag@Pt/MWCNTs catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction. J Appl Electrochem 46:917–928CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Li Y, Xu H, Zhao H, Lu L, Sun X (2016) Improving the durability of Pt/C catalyst in PEM fuel cell by doping vanadium phosphate oxygen. J Appl Electrochem 46:183–189CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    Ammam M, Easton EB (2013) Oxygen reduction activity of binary PtMn/C, ternary PtMnX/C (X= Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Mo and, Sn) and quaternary PtMnCuX/C (X= Fe, Co, Ni, and Sn) and PtMnMoX/C (X= Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Sn) alloy catalysts. J Power Sources 236:311–320CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. 7.
    Jaouen F, Marcotte S, Dodelet JP, Lindbergh G (2003) Oxygen reduction catalysts for polymer electrolyte fuel cells from the pyrolysis of iron acetate adsorbed on various carbon supports. J Phys Chem B 107:1376–1386CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.
    Shalagina AE, Ismagilov ZR, Podyacheva OY, Kvon RI, Ushakov VA (2007) Synthesis of nitrogen-containing carbon nanofibers by catalytic decomposition of ethylene/ammonia mixture. Carbon 45:1808–1820CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. 9.
    Maldonado S, Stevenson KJ (2005) Influence of nitrogen doping on oxygen reduction electrocatalysis at carbon nanofiber electrodes. J Phys Chem B 109:4707–4716CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. 10.
    Qiu Y, Yu J, Wu W, Yin J, Bai X (2013) Fe–N/C nanofiber electrocatalysts with improved activity and stability for oxygen reduction in alkaline and acid solutions. J Solid State Electr 17:565–573CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. 11.
    Wen Z, Ci S, Zhang F, Feng X, Cui S, Mao S, Luo S, He Z, Chen J (2012) Nitrogen-enriched core-shell structured Fe/Fe3C-C nanorods as advanced electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction. Adv Mater 24:1399–1404CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. 12.
    Wang S, Dai C, Li J, Zhao L, Ren Z, Ren Y, Qiu Y, Yu J (2015) The effect of different nitrogen sources on the electrocatalytic properties of nitrogen-doped electrospun carbon nanofibers for the oxygen reduction reaction. Int J Hydrogen Energ 40:4673– 4682CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    Kothandaraman R, Nallathambi V, Artyushkova K, Barton SC (2009) Non-precious oxygen reduction catalysts prepared by high-pressure pyrolysis for low-temperature fuel cells. Appl Catal B-Environ 92:209–216CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. 14.
    Kong A, Kong Y, Zhu X, Han Z, Shan Y (2014) Ordered mesoporous Fe (or Co)–N–graphitic carbons as excellent non-precious-metal electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction. Carbon 78:49–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. 15.
    Charreteur F, Jaouen F, Ruggeri S, Dodelet JP (2008) Fe/N/C non-precious catalysts for PEM fuel cells: Influence of the structural parameters of pristine commercial carbon blacks on their activity for oxygen reduction. Electrochim Acta 53:2925–2938CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. 16.
    Lei M, Li P, Li L, Tang W (2011) A highly ordered Fe–N–C nanoarray as a non-precious oxygen-reduction catalyst for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. J Power Sources 196:3548–3552CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. 17.
    Liu GCK, Dahn J (2008) Fe-NC oxygen reduction catalysts supported on vertically aligned carbon nanotubes. Appl Catal A-Gen 347:43–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. 18.
    Charreteur F, Ruggeri S, Jaouen F, Dodelet JP (2008) Increasing the activity of Fe/N/C catalysts in PEM fuel cell cathodes using carbon blacks with a high-disordered carbon content. Med J Nutr Metab 53:6881–6889Google Scholar
  19. 19.
    Jaouen F, Goellner V, Lefèvre M, Herranz J, Proietti E, Dodelet JP (2013) Oxygen reduction activities compared in rotating-disk electrode and proton exchange membrane fuel cells for highly active FeNC catalysts. Electrochim Acta 87:619–628CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. 20.
    Videla AHAM, Zhang L, Kim J, Zeng J, Francia C, Zhang J, Specchia S (2013) Mesoporous carbons supported non-noble metal Fe–N X electrocatalysts for PEM fuel cell oxygen reduction reaction. J Appl Electrochem 43:159–169CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. 21.
    Liu SH, Wu JR, Zheng FS, Guo JM (2015) Impact of iron precursors on the properties and activities of carbon-supported Fe-N oxygen reduction catalysts. J Solid State Electr 19:1381–1391CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. 22.
    Wu G, More KL, Johnston CM, Zelenay P (2011) High-performance electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction derived from polyaniline, iron, and cobalt. Science 332:443–447CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. 23.
    Gong K, Du F, Xia Z, Durstock M, Dai L (2009) Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube arrays with high electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction. Science 323:760–764CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. 24.
    Rego R, Oliveira C, Velázquez A, Cabot PL (2010) A new route to prepare carbon paper-supported Pd catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction. Electrochem commun 12:745–748CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. 25.
    Zy X, Gy J, Zhang M, Su Z, My Z, Chen JX, Qz H (2010) Improved properties of carbon fiber paper as electrode for fuel cell by coating pyrocarbon via CVD method. T Nonferr Metal Soc 20:1412–1417CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. 26.
    Xie Z, Chen G, Yu X, Hou M, Shao Z, Hong S, Mu C (2015) Carbon nanotubes grown in situ on carbon paper as a microporous layer for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Int J Hydrogen Energ 40:8958–8965CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. 27.
    Tang X, Xie Z, Huang Q, Chen G, Hou M, Yi B (2015) Mass-transport-controlled, large-area, uniform deposition of carbon nanofibers and their application in gas diffusion layers of fuel cells. Nanoscale 7:7971–7979CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. 28.
    Yang K, Xie ZY, Huang QZ, Tang X, Hu R (2014) Fabrication and Characterization of Carbon Fiber Paper for Application of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells. Mater Sc Forum 787:407– 411CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. 29.
    Roosendaal S, Van Asselen B, Elsenaar J, Vredenberg A, Habraken F (1999) The oxidation state of Fe (100) after initial oxidation in O 2. Surf Sci 442:329–337Google Scholar
  30. 30.
    Li X, Popov BN, Kawahara T, Yanagi H (2011) Non-precious metal catalysts synthesized from precursors of carbon, nitrogen, and transition metal for oxygen reduction in alkaline fuel cells. J Power Sources 196:1717–1722CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. 31.
    Qu L, Liu Y, Baek JB, Dai L (2010) Nitrogen-doped graphene as efficient metal-free electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction in fuel cells. ACS Nano 4:1321–1326CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. 32.
    Borghei M, Kanninen P, Lundahl M, Susi T, Sainio J, Anoshkin I, Nasibulin A, Kallio T, Tammeveski K, Kauppinen E et al (2014) High oxygen reduction activity of few-walled carbon nanotubes with low nitrogen content. Appl Catal B-Environ 158:233–241CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. 33.
    Dhanya P, Aravindan V, Srinivasan M, Ogale S (2014) 3D micro-porous conducting carbon beehive by single step polymer carbonization for high performance supercapacitors: the magic of in situ porogen formation. Energy Environ Sci 7:728– 735CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. 34.
    Lee D, Jung JY, Park MS, Lee YS (2014) Preparation of novolac-type phenol-based activated carbon with a hierarchical pore structure and its electric double-layer capacitor performance. Carbon Lett 15:192–197CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. 35.
    Peng C, Yan XB, Wang RT, Lang JW, Ou YJ, Xue QJ (2013) Promising activated carbons derived from waste tea-leaves and their application in high performance supercapacitors electrodes. Electrochim Acta 87:401–408CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. 36.
    Yuan DS, Zeng J, Chen J, Liu Y (2009) Highly ordered mesoporous carbon synthesized via in situ template for supercapacitors. Int J Electrochem Scix 4:562–570Google Scholar
  37. 37.
    Zacharia R, Kim KY, Sang WH, Nahm KS (2007) Intrinsic linear scaling of hydrogen storage capacity of carbon nanotubes with the specific surface area. Catal Today 120:426–431CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. 38.
    Peng Z, Zhang D, Yan T, Zhang J, Shi L (2013) Three-dimensional micro/mesoporous carbon composites with carbon nanotube networks for capacitive deionization. Appl Surf Sci 282:965–973CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. 39.
    Liu R, Wu D, Feng X, Müllen K (2010) Nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous graphitic arrays with high electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction. Angew Chem Int Edit 122:2619– 2623CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. 40.
    Kato T, Kusakabe K, Morooka S (1992) Process of formation of vapour-grown carbon fibres by gas-phase reaction using ultrafine iron catalyst particles. J Mater Sci Lett 11:674–677CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. 41.
    Bychko I, Kalishyn YY, Strizhak P (2015) Effect of the Size of Iron Nanoparticles on the Catalytic Activity and Selectivity of Fe/Cnt Nanocomposites in Hydrogenolysis of Ethylene. Theor Exp Chem 51:115–121CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Min Sun
    • 1
  • Zhiyong Xie
    • 1
  • Xiaobo Wu
    • 1
    • 3
  • Xiaoting Deng
    • 1
  • Chunxuan Liu
    • 2
  • Qizhong Huang
    • 1
  • Boyun Huang
    • 1
  1. 1.State Key Laboratory of Powder MetallurgyCentral South UniversityChangshaPeople’s Republic of China
  2. 2.Hunan Xiangtou Goldsky Technology Group Co., Ltd.ChangshaChina
  3. 3.School of Metallurgical EngineeringHunan University of TechnologyZhuzhouPeople’s Republic of China

Personalised recommendations