Theory, synthesis, and oxygen reduction catalysis of Fe-porphyrin-like carbon nanotube.

We report the synthesis of a Fe-porphyrin-like carbon nanotube from conventional plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Covalent but seamless incorporation of the 5-6-5-6 porphyrinic Fe-N(4) moiety into the graphene hexagonal side wall was elucidated by x-ray and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopies and first-principles electronic structure calculations. The resulting biomimetic nanotube exhibits an excellent oxygen reduction catalytic activity with the extreme structural stability over 0.1×10(6) cycles, vastly superior to the commercial Pt-C catalyst.