Hyperporous-Carbon-Supported Nonprecious Metal Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction.

Highly porous carbonaceous nonprecious metal catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction are prepared by carbonization of low-cost metalloporphyrin-based hyper-crosslinked polymers (MPH-X). With high surface area (2768 m2  g-1 ), hierarchical porous structure, and high metal loading (9.97 wt %), the obtained hyperporous carbon MPH-Fe/C catalyst exhibits high oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity with a half-wave potential (0.816 V) that is comparable to the 0.819 V of commercial Pt/C. Stability tests reveal that MPH-Fe/C also exhibits outstanding long-term durability and methanol tolerance. Our findings may offer an alternative approach to produce nonprecious metal ORR catalysts on a large scale owing to the low-cost MPH-X precursors with diverse metal types.