Non-Precious Metal Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalyst from Pyrolyzing Cobalt Tetraethylenepentamine Complex on Carbon

作者：Li, Xiangtai^*; Zhang, Hui-Juan; Li, Haoliang; Zhao, Bin; Yang, Junhe

来源：Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 2014, 161(9): F925-F932.

DOI：10.1149/2.0851409jes

• MEMBRANE FUEL-CELLS
• NANOTUBE ARRAYS
• ALKALINE MEDIA
• AREA CARBON
• CATALYSTS
• NITROGEN
• NANOCRYSTALS
• GRAPHENE
• CATHODES
• BLACKS

Development of non-precious metal catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of great importance due to their significant potential application in energy converting and storing devices. In this work, based on the simple and low-cost N-5 structure tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) ligand, a class of non-precious metal catalyst is prepared from pyrolyzing cobalt tetraethylenepentamine chelate on carbon (CoTEPA/C) at 800 degrees C in high purity N-2. It indicates that the cobalt-nitrogen chelate decomposes and metallic Co nanoparticles are present after pyrolysis. The optimized CoTEPA/C catalyst is found at the nominal mole ratio of Co:TEPA = 1:4 with more defect degree and smaller Co particles. For this catalyst, the nitrogen content is 1.12 at% mainly in pyridinic-N form. Electrochemical results show that this catalyst has a good catalytic activity and selectivity to water (4e reaction pathway) both in acid and alkaline electrolytes among the potential we studied. Furthermore, a better catalytic performance in terms of ORR peak potential (0.973 V vs. RHE), onset potential, half-wave potential and selectivity to water in alkaline medium is displayed.

• 出版日期2014
• 单位上海理工大学