摘要
The development of a non-precious metal electrocatalyst （NPME） with a performance superior to commercial Pt/C for the oxygen reduction reaction （ORR） is important for the commercialization of fuel cells. We report the synthesis of a NPME by heat-treating Co-based metal organic frameworks （ZIF-67） with a small average size of 44 nm. The electrocatalyst pyrolyzed at 600 ~C showed the best performance and the performance was enhanced when it was supported on BP 2000. The resulting electrocatalyst was composed of 10 nm Co nanoparticles coated by 3-12 layers of N doped graphite layers which as a whole was embedded in a carbon matrix. The ORR performance of the electrocatalyst was tested by rotating disk electrode tests in O2-saturated 0.1 mol/L KOH under ambient conditions. The electrocatalyst （1.0 mg/cm~] showed an onset potential of 1.017 V （[vs. RHE] and a half-wave potential of 0.857 V （vs. RHE], which showed it was as good as the commer- cial Pt/C （20 BgPt/cm2）. Furthermore, the electrocatalyst possessed much better stability and re- sistance to methanol crossover than Pt/C.
燃料电池具有能量转化效率高、功率密度高、低温操作、无污染等优点,因而在电动汽车动力源、移动式电源及分散电站等领域具有广阔的应用前景.Pt/C催化剂是目前使用最广泛的燃料电池阴极氧还原反应(ORR)的催化剂,然而其有限的储量、较低的稳定性、易CO中毒等缺点限制了燃料电池的大规模商业化,因此研制高活性和稳定性的非贵金属催化剂以代替Pt/C催化剂显得至关重要.金属有机骨架(MOFs)是由金属阳离子和有机配体配位而成的结构可调的空间三维材料,其作为前驱体制备非贵金属ORR催化剂具有独特的优势:(1)MOFs的三维晶体结构可以提供高的活性位点密度;(2)有机配体可以在热解的过程中转化为碳支撑体,使得活性金属物质和碳支撑体可以同时生成;(3)可以调节形成MOFs的金属离子和有机配体来设计一定特性的MOFs结构,从而制备结构和功能可调的催化剂;(4)MOFs具有可调控的孔径尺寸及可修饰的孔道表面,其较大的比表面积和不同孔隙分布有利于吸附反应物氧气分子,而且可以得到不同元素和金属掺杂的多孔碳材料.因此,本文选择MOF材料ZIF-67作为前驱体,通过在500–900°C高温热处理制备了非贵金属ORR催化剂,在0.1 mol/L KOH溶液中进行电化学测试,发现其中600°C热处理得到的催化剂的活性较好.为了进一步提高催化剂的导电性和分散性,对该催化剂进行了BP 2000碳载处理.电化学测试发现,该催化剂的ORR活性进一步提高:当载量为1.0 mg/cm2时,其ORR起始电位和半波电位分别达1.017和0.857 V(vs.RHE),与商业化Pt/C(20μgPt/cm^2)的性能相近.透射电镜结果表明,制备的催化剂为单质Co粒子镶嵌的N掺杂的多孔碳材料,其中Co粒子的粒径为10 nm左右,其存在可由X射线衍射测试得以确认.X射线光电子能谱表征显示,碳载得到的催化剂中N原子主要以吡啶型存在,后者可能起到一定的ORR活性位�
基金
supported by the National Basic Research Program of China(973 Program,2015CB932304)
the National Natural Science Founda-tion of China(21436003)
