The optimization of iron porphyrin@MOF-5 derived Fe N C electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in zinc-air batteries

The development of non-precious metal catalysts (NPMC) for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) is a hot topic for fuel cells and zinc-air batteries (ZABs). This study reports a method to obtain efficient FeNC ORR catalysts via doping dicyandiamide and iron porphyrins on the pyrolyzed MOF-5 and followed pyrolysis to achieve the anchoring of Fe-Nx active sites onto square-shaped structure carbon material. The prepared FeNC catalysts exhibit excellent ORR performance under an alkaline environment with half-wave potentials up to 0.903 V, which is 57 mV higher than that of Pt/C under the same conditions. It has excellent stability and methanol resistance. Moreover, this catalyst exhibited high specific capacity (821.8 mAh g−1) and power density (111.7 mW cm−2) in assembled ZAB, and excellent charging and discharging stability.