Mesoporous iron-nitrogen co-doped carbon material as cathode catalyst for the anion exchange membrane fuel cell

Jaana Lilloja; Marek Mooste; Elo Kibena-Põldsepp; Ave Sarapuu; Barr Zulevi; Arvo Kikas; Helle Mai Piirsoo; Aile Tamm; Vambola Kisand; Steven Holdcroft; Alexey Serov; Kaido Tammeveski

doi:10.1016/j.powera.2021.100052

Mesoporous iron-nitrogen co-doped carbon material as cathode catalyst for the anion exchange membrane fuel cell

Jaana Lilloja, Marek Mooste, Elo Kibena-Põldsepp, Ave Sarapuu, Barr Zulevi, Arvo Kikas, Helle Mai Piirsoo, Aile Tamm, Vambola Kisand, Steven Holdcroft, Alexey Serov, Kaido Tammeveski

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Abstract

A novel and commercially available electrocatalyst is characterised and used as cathode catalyst in an anion-exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC). The catalyst material is prepared using VariPore™ method by Pajarito Powder, LLC, and as dopants iron and nitrogen are used, making it a mesoporous transition metal-nitrogen-carbon type catalyst. The physico-chemical characterisation shows the success of doping as well as almost completely mesoporous structure (average pore size of approximately 7 nm) with high specific surface area. The initial assessment of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity by the rotating ring-disc electrode method reveals that the material exhibits a very good electrocatalytic performance in alkaline media having a half-wave potential of 0.89 V. The catalyst material is employed as an anion exchange membrane fuel cell cathode and it shows AEMFC performance as good as that of the Pt-based material. The high ORR electrocatalytic activity of this material is due to the synergy of nitrogen-moieties, namely pyrrolic-N, pyridinic-N and graphitic-N, with iron as well as the highly mesoporous nature.

Original language	English
Article number	100052
Journal	Journal of Power Sources Advances
Volume	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powera.2021.100052
State	Published - Apr 2021
Externally published	Yes

Funding

The present work was financially supported by the Estonian Research Council (grants PRG723 and PRG4 ) and M-ERA.Net project “C-MOF.cell” ( SLTKT20445 ). This research was also supported by the EU through the European Regional Development Fund (TK141, “Advanced materials and high-technology devices for energy recuperation systems” and TK134, “Emerging orders in quantum and nanomaterials”). A. Serov and B. Zulevi gratefully acknowledge financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Technologies Office (HFTO), FY2018 Hydrogen and Fuel Cell R&D FOA , Award Number DE-EE0008419 .

Keywords

Anion-exchange membrane fuel cell
Electrocatalysis
Fe–N–C catalyst
Mesoporous carbon
Nitrogen doping
Oxygen reduction

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.powera.2021.100052

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Lilloja, J., Mooste, M., Kibena-Põldsepp, E., Sarapuu, A., Zulevi, B., Kikas, A., Piirsoo, H. M., Tamm, A., Kisand, V., Holdcroft, S., Serov, A., & Tammeveski, K. (2021). Mesoporous iron-nitrogen co-doped carbon material as cathode catalyst for the anion exchange membrane fuel cell. Journal of Power Sources Advances, 8, Article 100052. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powera.2021.100052

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abstract = "A novel and commercially available electrocatalyst is characterised and used as cathode catalyst in an anion-exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC). The catalyst material is prepared using VariPore{\texttrademark} method by Pajarito Powder, LLC, and as dopants iron and nitrogen are used, making it a mesoporous transition metal-nitrogen-carbon type catalyst. The physico-chemical characterisation shows the success of doping as well as almost completely mesoporous structure (average pore size of approximately 7 nm) with high specific surface area. The initial assessment of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity by the rotating ring-disc electrode method reveals that the material exhibits a very good electrocatalytic performance in alkaline media having a half-wave potential of 0.89 V. The catalyst material is employed as an anion exchange membrane fuel cell cathode and it shows AEMFC performance as good as that of the Pt-based material. The high ORR electrocatalytic activity of this material is due to the synergy of nitrogen-moieties, namely pyrrolic-N, pyridinic-N and graphitic-N, with iron as well as the highly mesoporous nature.",

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AU - Lilloja, Jaana

AU - Mooste, Marek

AU - Kibena-Põldsepp, Elo

AU - Sarapuu, Ave

AU - Zulevi, Barr

AU - Kikas, Arvo

AU - Piirsoo, Helle Mai

AU - Tamm, Aile

AU - Kisand, Vambola

AU - Holdcroft, Steven

AU - Serov, Alexey

AU - Tammeveski, Kaido

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N2 - A novel and commercially available electrocatalyst is characterised and used as cathode catalyst in an anion-exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC). The catalyst material is prepared using VariPore™ method by Pajarito Powder, LLC, and as dopants iron and nitrogen are used, making it a mesoporous transition metal-nitrogen-carbon type catalyst. The physico-chemical characterisation shows the success of doping as well as almost completely mesoporous structure (average pore size of approximately 7 nm) with high specific surface area. The initial assessment of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity by the rotating ring-disc electrode method reveals that the material exhibits a very good electrocatalytic performance in alkaline media having a half-wave potential of 0.89 V. The catalyst material is employed as an anion exchange membrane fuel cell cathode and it shows AEMFC performance as good as that of the Pt-based material. The high ORR electrocatalytic activity of this material is due to the synergy of nitrogen-moieties, namely pyrrolic-N, pyridinic-N and graphitic-N, with iron as well as the highly mesoporous nature.

AB - A novel and commercially available electrocatalyst is characterised and used as cathode catalyst in an anion-exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC). The catalyst material is prepared using VariPore™ method by Pajarito Powder, LLC, and as dopants iron and nitrogen are used, making it a mesoporous transition metal-nitrogen-carbon type catalyst. The physico-chemical characterisation shows the success of doping as well as almost completely mesoporous structure (average pore size of approximately 7 nm) with high specific surface area. The initial assessment of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity by the rotating ring-disc electrode method reveals that the material exhibits a very good electrocatalytic performance in alkaline media having a half-wave potential of 0.89 V. The catalyst material is employed as an anion exchange membrane fuel cell cathode and it shows AEMFC performance as good as that of the Pt-based material. The high ORR electrocatalytic activity of this material is due to the synergy of nitrogen-moieties, namely pyrrolic-N, pyridinic-N and graphitic-N, with iron as well as the highly mesoporous nature.

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Mesoporous iron-nitrogen co-doped carbon material as cathode catalyst for the anion exchange membrane fuel cell

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

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