MOF-Templated Assembly Approach for Fe3 C Nanoparticles Encapsulated in Bamboo-Like N-Doped CNTs: Highly Efficient Oxygen Reduction under Acidic and Basic Conditions

Arshad Aijaz; Justus Masa; Christoph Rösler; Hendrik Antoni; Roland A Fischer; Wolfgang Schuhmann; Martin Muhler

doi:10.1002/chem.201701389

MOF-Templated Assembly Approach for Fe₃ C Nanoparticles Encapsulated in Bamboo-Like N-Doped CNTs: Highly Efficient Oxygen Reduction under Acidic and Basic Conditions

Chemistry. 2017 Sep 7;23(50):12125-12130. doi: 10.1002/chem.201701389. Epub 2017 May 2.

Authors

Arshad Aijaz¹, Justus Masa², Christoph Rösler³, Hendrik Antoni¹, Roland A Fischer^{4

5}, Wolfgang Schuhmann², Martin Muhler^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44780, Bochum, Germany.
² Analytical Chemistry-Center for Electrochemical Sciences (CES), Ruhr-University Bochum, 44780, Bochum, Germany.
³ Anorganische Chemie II, Organometallics & Materials, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44780, Bochum, Germany.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Technical University Munich, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, 85748, Garching, Germany.
⁵ Catalysis Research Centre, Technical University Munich, Ernst-Otto-Fischer-Strasse 1, 85748, Garching, Germany.
⁶ Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, 45470, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany.

PMID: 28370505
DOI: 10.1002/chem.201701389

Abstract

Developing high-performance non-precious metal catalysts (NPMCs) for the oxygen-reduction reaction (ORR) is of critical importance for sustainable energy conversion. We report a novel NPMC consisting of iron carbide (Fe₃ C) nanoparticles encapsulated in N-doped bamboo-like carbon nanotubes (b-NCNTs), synthesized by a new metal-organic framework (MOF)-templated assembly approach. The electrocatalyst exhibits excellent ORR activity in 0.1 m KOH (0.89 V at -1 mA cm^-2 ) and in 0.5 m H₂ SO₄ (0.73 V at -1 mA cm^-2 ) with a hydrogen peroxide yield of below 1 % in both electrolytes. Due to encapsulation of the Fe₃ C nanoparticles inside porous b-NCNTs, the reported NPMC retains its high ORR activity after around 70 hours in both alkaline and acidic media.

Keywords: heterogeneous catalysis; iron carbides; metal-organic frameworks; nanostructured materials; oxygen-reduction reaction.