Kinetics and Electrocatalytic Activity of Co(Aminopyrine)-Derived Nitrogen-Doped Porous Nanocomposite for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Alkaline Electrolyte

Non precious metal (NPM) catalysts are considered as promising candidates ofreplacing Pt for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) inpolymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells for its low cost and rich resource. It has been reported that the substitution of some carbon atoms withheteroatoms, such as N, S, P, I and B, is an effective way totailor NPM catalysts’ electron-donor properties thus effectively weakening the O−O bonding¹ and leading to a high ORR catalytic activity. Up to now, extensive research efforts have been made to explore the N doped non-noble metal oxygen reduction catalysts² since nitrogen has electronegativity higher than other elements³. In our recent work, we found that sulfur-doping could lead to increased catalyst porosity and therefore promote mass transport^4.5. As yet, the S doped ones, in particular the S and N co-doped carbon materials are less reported^6-8. On the other hand, the specific surface area and porous structure, which determine the accessible part of active sites and the transport properties of ORR-relevant species (H⁺, e⁻, O₂, H₂O), are believed to play the important role in the performance of NPM catalysts.In this regard, template method has drawn great attention to obtain the specified morphologyand predetermined microstructure^9,10. Based on the above conceptions, in this work, we report a novel kind of heteroatom-doped carbon catalyst from N-containing polymer and sulfate by template method and acid leaching.Poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride)(abbreviate as PDDA) was employed as sources of nitrogen and carbon, ferrous sulfate as precursor of sulfur and metal, while the nanoscale silica as sacrificial supports to create pores.