Premium
Nanoporous Graphene Enriched with Fe/Co‐N Active Sites as a Promising Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalyst for Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells
Author(s) -
Palaniselvam Thangavelu,
Kashyap Varchaswal,
Bhange Siddeswar N.,
Baek JongBeom,
Kurungot Sreekumar
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201504765
Subject(s) - overpotential , electrocatalyst , nanoporous , graphene , materials science , bimetallic strip , proton exchange membrane fuel cell , catalysis , electrochemistry , chemical engineering , inorganic chemistry , ion exchange , nanotechnology , electrode , ion , chemistry , metal , organic chemistry , engineering , metallurgy
Here, a simple but efficient way is demonstrated for the preparation of nanoporous graphene enriched with Fe/Co–nitrogen‐doped active sites (Fe/Co‐NpGr) as a potential electrocatalyst for the electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) applications. Once graphene is converted into porous graphene (pGr) by a controlled oxidative etching process, pGr can be converted into a potential electrocatalyst for ORR by utilizing the created edge sites of pGr for doping nitrogen and subsequently to utilize the doped nitrogens to build Fe/Co coordinated centers (Fe/Co‐NpGr). The structural information elucidated using both XPS and TOF‐SIMS study indicates the presence of coordination of the M–N (M = Fe and Co)‐doped carbon active sites. Creation of this bimetallic coordination assisted by the nitrogen locked at the pore openings is found to be helping the system to substantially reduce the overpotential for ORR. A 30 mV difference in the overpotential ( η ) with respect to the standard Pt/C catalyst and high retention in half wave potential after 10 000 cycles in ORR can be attained. A single cell of an anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC) by using Fe/Co‐NpGr as the cathode delivers a maximum power density of ≈35 mWcm −2 compared to 60 mWcm −2 displayed by the Pt‐based system.