Inexpensive Biomass-Modified Carbon Black as an Active Pt-Free Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in an Alkaline Medium.

The development of inexpensive and active Pt-free catalysts as an alternative to Pt-based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is an essential prerequisite for fuel cell commercialization. In this paper, we report a strategy for the design of a new Fe-N/C electrocatalyst derived from the co-pyrolysis of biomass, carbon black (Vulcan XC-72R) and FeCl₃·6H₂O at 900 °C under nitrogen atmosphere. Electrochemical results show that the Fe-N/C catalyst exhibits higher electrocatalytic activity for ORR, longer durability and higher tolerance to methanol compared to a commercial Pt/C catalyst (40 wt %) in an alkaline medium. In particular, Fe-N/C presents an onset potential of 0.05 V (. Hg/HgO) for ORR in an alkaline medium, with an electron transfer number () of ~3.90, which is close to that of Pt/C. Our results confirm that the catalyst derived from and carbon black is a promising non-noble metal catalyst as an alternative to commercial Pt/C catalysts.