Valorization of biomass furfural residue: Nitrogen-doped porous carbon towards electrocatalytic reaction

Catalysts made of non-noble metal for electrocatalytic reaction such as oxygen reduction with low cost, abundant resources, high stability, and excellent performance play a key role in promoting large-scale commercial application of fuel cells. In this work, industrial residue from biomass-based furfural production was selected and processed as carbon source to prepare a series of catalysts with excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic performance. The processed furfural residue (FR) consisted mainly cellulose fiber and lignin particles in micro/nanoscale with size (length, width, and diameter) well-described by a lognormal distribution. The FR material followed a two-stage thermal decomposition process. The prepared FR carbon (FRC) material demonstrated high oxygen reduction catalytic activity and stability in oxygen saturated electrolyte (0.1 mol/L KOH). Its catalytic activity reached more than 90% of that of commercial platinum-carbon catalysts, showing its high application potential in fuel cell cathode.