In situ formation of N- and Fe-doped carbon nanotube/mesoporous carbon nanocomposite with excellent activity for oxygen reduction in acidic media

Abstract

An N- and Fe-doped carbon nanotube/CMK3 nanocomposite (NFe-CNT/CMK3) was firstly prepared by a simple procedure. Trace Fe³⁺ can catalyze the in situ growth of the N- and Fe-doped carbon nanotube from melamine as a CNT precursor. The typical product shows excellent catalytic ability for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in acidic media. The value of the onset potential and half-peak potential of the typical product is only 68.0 mV and 63.0 mV less than that of the commercial 20% Pt/C catalyst, respectively. The product also reveals superior stability and tolerance to methanol poisoning effects compared to Pt/C. We believe that the NFe-CNT and NFe-CMK3 in the nanocomposite have synergistically enhanced electrochemical activities for ORR in acidic media. The proposed method is simple and readily scalable. We anticipate such a nanoporous nanocomposite will have broad applications in other fields such as supercapacitors, lithium ion batteries, gas uptake, biosensors, removal of pollutants and so on.