Electrospun bamboo-like Fe3C encapsulated Fe-Si-N co-doped nanofibers for efficient oxygen reduction

Zhefu Li; Binling Chen; Xianfeng Wang; Jun Nie; Guiping Ma

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2019.03.079

Electrospun bamboo-like Fe₃C encapsulated Fe-Si-N co-doped nanofibers for efficient oxygen reduction

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2019 Jun 15:546:231-239. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.03.079. Epub 2019 Mar 25.

Authors

Zhefu Li¹, Binling Chen², Xianfeng Wang³, Jun Nie⁴, Guiping Ma⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, PR China; Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, PR China.
² College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QF, UK.
³ Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, PR China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, PR China.

PMID: 30925431
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.03.079

Abstract

In this work, a novel catalyst of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) was designed and fabricated by electrospinning, photo-curing and carbonization, based on polymer poly(dimethylsilylene ethynylenephenyleneethynylene) (PMSEPE) and metal organic frameworks (MOFs)-Materiaux de l'Institute Lavosier-101(Fe) (MIL-101(Fe)). The optimal catalyst PMSEPE/MIL-101(Fe)-800, which was carbonized at 800 °C, presented a bamboo-like nanofiber structure with a high degree of graphitization, a high specific surface area (302.3 m²/g) and a high yield (64.17%). Fe₃C particles were found to be encapsulated into the Fe-Si-N co-doped carbon nanofibers. In the electrochemical tests, PMSEPE/MIL-101(Fe)-800 showed an onset potential of 0.935 V (vs. RHE) and a diffusion limit current of 6.01 mA/cm² (vs. RHE) in 0.1 M KOH aqueous solution, of which performances are competitive to commercial 20 wt% Pt/C. PMSEPE/MIL-101(Fe)-800 also exhibited a higher methanol tolerance and duration stability. Further Zn-air battery test used by PMSEPE/MIL-101(Fe)-800 suggested its potential for the application of fuel cell.

Keywords: Bamboo-like structure; Electrospinning; Electrospun fibers; Oxygen reduction reaction.