Phosphorus-doped hierarchical porous carbon as efficient metal-free electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract Recently, fuel cells and metal-air batteries have attracted extensive attentions. Researching and developing non-noble metal catalyst with high electrocatalytic activity and low cost is one of the important challenges for these energy storage and conversion devices. In this study, phosphorus doped hierarchical porous carbon (P-HPC) has been firstly synthesized via a hard template method. The prepared P HPC possesses a unique porous structure which consists of micropores, mesopores and macropores simultaneously. The electrocatalytic activity of the P HPC toward ORR in KOH solution has been studied and compared with the ordinary structured phosphorus doped carbon (P C) and the commercial Pt/C by means of rotating ring-disk electrode (RRDE) technique. The prepared P HPC exhibits an excellent electrocatalytic performance toward ORR in terms of the electrocatalytic activity, the reaction kinetics, the durability and the methanol tolerance. And the high electrocatalytic activity and durability of P HPC could be attributed to the special hierarchical porous structure. This research demonstrates that the rational design of the microstructures for catalyst plays significant roles in improving the catalytic activity for the ORR.