Low-cost, Electro-Active C@Fe3C/Fe3O4 composite derived using bagasse for the oxygen reduction reaction

As the world is heading towards a sustainable future, it is highly important to develop low-cost electrocatalysts for energy generation devices. Herein, we report the synthesis of iron-carbon hybrid (C@Fe3C/Fe3O4) nanocomposite for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), synthesized using bagasse as a carbon source material and Fe(III) precursor at 900 ˚C. The synthesized C@Fe3C/Fe3O4 composite exhibits a high surface area of ~930 m2/g. The electrode material has a 0.86 V overpotential vs RHE. Moreover, the electrocatalyst shows catalytic stability upto 18 h at the static potential of 0.25 V vs RHE at the rotation speed of 1600 rpm. Herein, the electron transfer number is close to 4 which suggests that our electrocatalyst may have an impact on efficient electrocatalyst designing for ORR in alkaline solution.