Cinnamomum-Longepaniculatum-Leaves-Based Fe-N Doped Porous Carbon as an Effective Oxygen Reduction Catalyst

Developing low-cost, efficient, and scalable non-precious metal electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) remains a critical challenge in the field of energy conversion. Among various candidates, Fe-N-doped carbon materials have garnered attention as promising alternatives to commercial Pt/C catalysts for ORR. In this study, we report an Fe-N catalyst synthesized by incorporating iron phthalocyanine with Cinnamomum longepaniculatum waste leaves as the carbon source. This catalyst exhibited an excellent four-electron ORR activity and the half-wave potential (E1/2) reaches 0.875 V, which was superior to that of commercial Pt/C (E1/2 = 0.864 V). Additionally, the catalyst exhibits superior methanol tolerance and stability compared to commercial Pt/C. This approach, which utilizes biomass waste for the synthesis of electrocatalysts, not only provides an effective solution for reducing environmental waste but also addresses the issue of sluggish cathodic ORR kinetics in fuel cells, making it suitable for low-cost, large-scale industrial production.