Fabrication and oxygen reduction reaction electroactivity of Pt-Fe-Co loaded on nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheet composites

Preparation of electrocatalyst composites with high activity and stability is of great significance for the development of fuel cells and metal-air cells. In this study, nitrogen doped nanosheets loaded with Fe-Co alloy(Fe1-Co1-N/C)were firstly obtained by simple pyrolysis of the mixture composed of dicyandiamide as carbon and nitrogen sources, cobalt phthalocyanine and ferrocene as metal nanoparticles sources. Finally, a small amount of platinum was introduced into Fe1-Co1-N/C by a facile deposition method to obtain Pt-Fe-Co loaded nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheet composites(Fe1-Co1-Pt-N/C). Electroactivity of the prepared samples towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in acidic medium was investigated. Results show that the Fe1-Co1-N/C itself displays a strong electroactivity for ORR. Further, the Fe1-Co1-Pt-N/C catalysts with Pt mass-loadings of 2.36%−3.58% present a significant improvement on ORR electrocatalytic performance. Their ORR onset potential, half-wave potential and limiting diffusion current are comparable to commercial Pt/C (40%). Also, they exhibit excellent electroactivity stability for ORR. The prepared catalyst in this work can be used as a good candidate material applied to fuel cells.