Hollow Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Spheres with Fe3O4 Nanoparticles Encapsulated as a Highly Active Oxygen-Reduction Catalyst

Haitao Wang; Wei Wang; Yang Yang Xu; Shuang Dong; Junwu Xiao; Feng Wang; Hongfang Liu; Bao Yu Xia

doi:10.1021/acsami.6b15392

Hollow Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Spheres with Fe₃O₄ Nanoparticles Encapsulated as a Highly Active Oxygen-Reduction Catalyst

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2017 Mar 29;9(12):10610-10617. doi: 10.1021/acsami.6b15392. Epub 2017 Mar 17.

Authors

Haitao Wang¹, Wei Wang¹, Yang Yang Xu¹, Shuang Dong¹, Junwu Xiao¹, Feng Wang¹, Hongfang Liu¹, Bao Yu Xia^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) , Wuhan 430074, China.
² Shenzhen Institute of Huazhong University of Science and Technology , Shenzhen 518000, P. R. China.

PMID: 28169517
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b15392

Abstract

The development of nonprecious electrocatalyst with low cost and high efficiency for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is a main challenge for electrochemical energy technology. In this work, a hierarchical hollow core-shell structured N-doped carbon spheres (N-HSCS), in which Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles are encapsulated (Fe₃O₄/N-HCSC) has been successfully prepared. The Fe₃O₄/N-HCSC electrocatalyst exhibits a remarkable catalytic performance toward ORR. The porous hollow core-shell structure and synergistic effect between Fe₃O₄ and protective nitrogen-doped graphitic layers are mainly responsible for such an excellent ORR catalytic property and stability. This work demonstrates a promising strategy of nanostructure-engineering to the future design and preparation of highly efficient non-noble metal electrocatalysts.

Keywords: Fe3O4 nanoparticle; core−shell; hollow; oxygen reduction; synergistic effect.