Regulating the thickness of the carbon coating layer in iron/carbon heterostructures to enhance the catalytic performance for oxygen evolution reaction

The exploration of high-performance electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial and urgent for the fast development of green and renewable hydrogen energy. Herein, an ultra-fast and energy-efficient preparation strategy (microwave-assisted rapid in-situ pyrolysis of organometallic compounds induced by carbon nanotube (CNT)) is developed to obtain iron/carbon (Fe/C) heterogeneous materials (Fe/Fe3C particles wrapped by carbon coating layer). The thickness of the carbon coating layer can be adjusted by changing the content and form of carbon in the metal sources during the fast preparation process. Fe/Fe3C-A@CNT using iron acetylacetonate as metal sources possesses unique Fe/C heterogeneous, small Fe/Fe3C particles encapsulated by the thin carbon coating layer (1.77 nm), and obtains the optimal electron penetration effect. The electron penetration effect derives from the redistribution of charge between the surface carbon coating layer and inner Fe/Fe3C nanoparticles efficiently improving both catalytic activity and stability. Therefore, Fe/Fe3C-A@CNT shows efficient OER catalytic activity, just needing a low overpotential of 292 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm-2, and long-lasting stability. More importantly, the unique control strategy for carbon thickness in this work provides more opportunity and perspective to prepare robust metal/carbon-based catalytic materials at the nanoscale.