Iron, nitrogen and fluorine co-modified carbon nanotubes as an effective catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract A carbon catalytic material was synthesized using a heteroatomic doping strategy to improve its electrochemical performance on oxygen reduction reaction. Iron, nitrogen and fluorine were doped together to regulate the microstructure of carbon nanotubes through subsequently thermal treatment on iron phthalocyanine(FePc) and fluorinated carbon nanotubes(FCNT). The electrocatalytic activity of FePc/FCNT800 is higher than that of FCNT, FePc/FCNT and commercial Pt/C catalysts, with an Eonset of 1.05 V and E1/2 of 0.9 V in 1.0 M KOH solution. The result demonstrated the synergistic ORR catalytic effect in Fe, N and F co-modified carbon material. It also exhibits a perfect stability during the ADT test after 5000 cycles and the 20 h long-term chronoamperometry (CA) test in 1.0 M KOH solution.