Catalytic activity Enhanced meChanisms Of TRANSition metal decorated N-doped carbon by precursor acid treatment

Among the next-generation of energy technologies, fuel cells and air batteries show great potential to meet our growing energy demands. However, their overall efficiency is severely limited by the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode.

So far, Pt-based materials are regarded as the ideal ORR electrocatalyst in practical applications because of the high catalytic activity and stability. However, the scarcity, high cost, and inferior long-term stability of Pt restrict its widespread application.

The development of non-platinum group metals (non-PGM) earth-abundant alternatives with high activity and durability has been considered as a crucial task.

A class of materials including transition metals and carbon-based compounds have been reported as the alternative catalysts to Pt for ORR, especially in proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

Among them, the low cost electrocatalysts based on M-N (M, transition metal, such as Co, Fe and Ni) with carbon support (M-N-C) are the most studied.

However, the relative low catalytic activity limited by the active cites, low catalyst utilization in practical electrodes because of the thick catalyst layer resulting from the high catalyst loading, and poor stability due to the leaching of transitional metals in real operation conditions are still big challenges in both fuel cells and metal-air batteries.

In EcoTrans, the main purpose is to establish new knowledge of the enhancement mechanisms on catalytic activities of novel M-N-C catalysts prepared from acidic treated precursors and surface encapsulation by polymerized ionic liquids (ILs), and then based on the understanding to define the structure and synergistic effects between different elements to guide the development of low cost, highly active M-N-C based catalyst electrodes.

The ambitious aim will be achieved with the complementary skills of the ER (N-C and transitional metal electrocatalysts) and supervisors (fuel cell electrodes and ILs).