Cobalt and Nitrogen Co-Doped Electrospun Carbon Nanofibers as a Bifunctional Oxygen Electrocatalyst

Nowadays, it is urgent to prepare a bifunctional electrocatalyst with effectively improve catalytic properties towards ORR and OER, replacing precious metals and commercial catalysts. Cobalt nitrogen co-doped carbon nanofibers (Co-N/CNFs) are successfully synthesized via solvothermal, pyrolysis of electrospun nanofibers containing cobalt phthalocyanine and melamine. The electrochemical characterization of Co-N/CNFs-800 is carried out using cyclic voltammetry, and Tafel studies compared with Pt/C and RuO2. The Co-N/CNFs-800 exhibits the higher ORR catalytic activity with half-wave potential (0.77 V) and the lower OER overpotential (370 mV). Furthermore, the activity parameter of Co-N/CNFs-800 (0.83 V) is much lower than that of Pt/C (0.95 V), and closer to RuO2 (0.82 V). This research opens an effective method to synthesize an excellent bifunctional electrocatalyst for ORR/OER.