The Solid-Phase Synthesis of an Fe-N-C Electrocatalyst for High-Power Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Qingtao Liu; Xiaofang Liu; Lirong Zheng; Jianglan Shui

doi:10.1002/anie.201709597

The Solid-Phase Synthesis of an Fe-N-C Electrocatalyst for High-Power Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2018 Jan 26;57(5):1204-1208. doi: 10.1002/anie.201709597. Epub 2018 Jan 8.

Authors

Qingtao Liu¹, Xiaofang Liu¹, Lirong Zheng², Jianglan Shui¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, No. 37 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100083, China.
² Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19 Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, China.

PMID: 29210167
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201709597

Abstract

The environmentally friendly synthesis of highly active Fe-N-C electrocatalysts for proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) is desirable but remains challenging. A simple and scalable method is presented to fabricate Fe^II -doped ZIF-8, which can be further pyrolyzed into Fe-N-C with 3 wt % of Fe exclusively in Fe-N₄ active moieties. Significantly, this Fe-N-C derived acidic PEMFC exhibits an unprecedented current density of 1.65 A cm^-2 at 0.6 V and the highest power density of 1.14 W cm^-2 compared with previously reported NPMCs. The excellent PEMFC performance can be attributed to the densely and atomically dispersed Fe-N₄ active moieties on the small and uniform catalyst nanoparticles.

Keywords: electrocatalysis; fuel cells; iron; oxygen reduction reaction; solid-phase synthesis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't