Preparation of a Carbon-Based Non-Precious Metal Catalyst Fehmta/C for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

A non-precious metal catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction was prepared by a simple method and using cheap materials. The basic steps include: 0.40g of FeCl₃.6H₂O was dissolved in 5 ml ethanol, and then the solution was uniformly mixed with 0.5g of acetylene black. The obtained mixture was dried at 50℃ and was mechanically ground with 0.5g of hexamethylenetetramine for 30 minutes. Then the precursor was heat-treated at 700℃ for 2 hours under nitrogen atmosphere and a catalyst named FeHMTA/C was got. Figure 1 shows the ORR catalytic activities of acetylene black and FeHMTA/C catalyst. It can be seen that the untreated acetylene black has not ORR activity. However, there is an obvious reduction process with an onset reduction potential of 0.56V (vs. SCE) in the voltammogram of FeHMTA/C catalyst as shown in Figure1(c). This process corresponds to the oxygen reduction reaction, which shows the FeHMTA/C catalyst has good ORR activity.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Sichuan University of Science and Engineering (No. 2012RC16) and the Opening Project of Key Laboratory of Green Catalysis of Sichuan Institutes of High Education (No. LYJ1206, LYJ1401). 

Figure 1 Linear sweep voltammograms of (a) acetylene black and (c) FeHMTA/C catalyst in 0.5M H₂SO₄ solution saturated by O₂, and (b) FeHMTA/C catalyst in 0.5M H₂SO₄ solution saturated by N_2.