Highly active electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction from pyrolyzing carbon-supported iron tetraethylenepentamine complex

Development of non-precious metal catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of great importance due to their significant potential application in energy converting and storing devices. In this work, a class of non-precious metal catalyst is prepared by using a simple and low-cost N-5 structure tetraethylenepentamine ligand, i.e. pyrolyzing iron tetraethylenepentamine chelate on carbon (FeTEPA/C) at 800 degrees C. The FeTEPA/C catalyst is characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Raman, X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It has been found that the unique FeTEPA/C catalyst contains 1.48 at% nitrogen and the absence of Fe-containing aggregates, and shows a higher catalytic activity towards the ORR than the commercial Pt/C catalyst either in acid or in alkaline electrolyte. Furthermore, a better ORR catalytic activity in terms of onset potential, peak potential, half-wave potential and limited-diffusing current is displayed in alkaline medium. The ORR on the FeTEPA/C catalyst follows a four-electron pathway among all the studied potential. The above superiorities make it a promising candidate for substituting the commercial Pt/C catalyst. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.