Mesoporous nitrogen-doped carbon derived from carp with high electrocatalytic performance for oxygen reduction reaction

In this work, a low-cost and nitrogen-containing carbon material with mesopores and high surface area is synthesized by carbonizing carp with SiO2 nanoparticles as template. It is found that pyridinic-N dominates the N species on the surface of obtained carbon material, which can act as active sites for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The BET surface area of obtained carbon material is 401.7 m(2) g(-1) and the pore size is ca. 11.1 nm. Due to its high pyridinic-N content and mesoporous architecture, the ORR activity of obtained carbon material in alkaline media is comparable to that of commercial Pt/C catalyst. In addition, it shows a higher methanol tolerance than Pt/C catalyst, making it a potential alternative to Pt-based catalysts. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.