Nitrogen Doped Carbon with Metal as Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

This work reports nitrogen doped carbon as non-noble metal catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The carbon material is prepared by the pyrolysis of ion exchange resin. The morphology and ORR activity of the carbon material is influenced by the catalyst used for the graphitization. The effect of acid washing of the pyrolyzed carbon before nitrogen doping is studied. Acid washing is found to be able to remove the impurities/defects of graphitic carbon, which decreases the ORR activity. The nitrogen doped materials show much better ORR activity than undoped one. The ORR activity of the as prepared catalysts is related with metal content and N-O content.