Iron phthalocyanine integrated with boron-doped reduced graphene oxide for highly selective four-electron oxygen reduction: an experimental study

Abstract

Iron phthalocyanine (FePc) has been integrated on boron-doped reduced graphene oxide (B-RGO) resulting in the composite, FePc@B-RGO. Boron alters the electronic structure around FePc and shows a higher selectivity than that of the benchmark catalyst, Pt/C, for four-electron oxygen reduction. FePc@B-RGO exhibits high oxygen reduction reaction activity with a high onset potential and half-wave potential (0.95 and 0.85 V vs. RHE respectively). FePc@B-RGO also shows a low Tafel slope of 39 mV dec⁻¹ and high efficiency, stability, and methanol crossover for oxygen reduction in basic media.