Sponge-like carbon containing nitrogen and iron provides a non-precious oxygen reduction catalyst

Sponge-like nitrogen-containing carbon (SNC) was synthesized via a template-free approach through pyrolyzing a mixture of bipyridine and iron (III) chloride. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the prepared SNC comprised an interconnected highly porous three-dimensional framework. Using rotating disk electrode measurements to measure oxygen reduction activity and methanol tolerance, SNC was found to have a 22.2 mV more negative half-wave potential than that of commercial Pt/C and strong methanol tolerance. We conclude that SNC affords a promising “non-precious” oxygen reduction catalyst in alkaline medium.