Electroactive Cu−P‐Coupled Moieties Doped in Hierarchically Porous Carbon as Efficient Catalysts for the Oxygen‐Reduction Reaction

Abstract A porous carbon material that was co‐doped with copper and phosphorus (Cu−P−C) was synthesized by the direct thermal conversion of [(Ph3P)2CuCl2] in the channels of an SBA‐15 template and found to be an impressive Cu‐based electrocatalyst. The prefabricated Cu−Px moieties in the starting [(Ph3P)2CuCl2] were retained during the preparation process of the catalyst. These Cu−Px active sites effectively catalyzed the oxygen‐reduction reaction (ORR). Moreover, the hierarchically porous morphology of the Cu−P−C material, which demonstrated a large specific surface area, allowed for a higher density of the Cu−Px active sites, thereby facilitating mass transfer and further boosting the electrocatalytic activity of the Cu−P−C catalyst. The as‐obtained catalyst exhibited surprising catalytic activity, with a halfwave potential of 0.833 V in alkaline medium, which was comparable to that of the commercial Pt/C‐JM catalyst, and possessed the highest activity among the reported M−P−C catalysts for the ORR.