Composite of iron phthalocyanine and reduced graphene oxide with low temperature hydrothermally grown Ti3C2Tx Mxene for ORR catalytic application

In this paper, Ti3C2Tx MXene was successfully prepared by a mild and environment-friendly low-temperature hydrothermal method. On this basis, the compsites FePc-M-rGO consisting of iron phthalocyanine (FePc), Ti3C2Tx MXene and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) were prepared through simple mixing and used as catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The materials were characterized by SEM, XRD and other methods. The effects of raw material ratio, hydrochloric acid concentration, reaction temperature and reaction time on the properties of Ti3C2Tx were studied in detail. Compared with hydrofluoric acid (HF) etching method, the Ti3C2Tx prepared by low-temperature hydrothermal method has larger layer spacing, more complete crystal structure, larger specific surface area and better conductivity. The influences of different ratios of each component of FePc-M-rGO on the ORR catalytic performances were investigated. Mainly attributed to the improvement of self stacking and uniform adhesion of FePc between Ti3C2Tx layer and graphene nanosheets, the optimized composite material has better ORR activity than commercially available Pt-C catalysts and has good application prospects. This work provides a new approach for the rapid and effective preparation of Ti3C2Tx Mxene, and provides new ideas for the design of non-noble metal catalysts for ORR.