Ionic liquid derived Fe, N, B co-doped bamboo-like carbon nanotubes as an efficient oxygen reduction catalyst.

Iron-nitrogen (Fe-N) co-doped carbon nanomaterials are promising catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with outstanding catalytic activity at low cost. Here, we demonstrate a facile bottom-up strategy to fabricate Fe, N, B co-doped bamboo-like carbon nanotubes using ionic liquid as dopant source. We show that the synergistic effect of Fe, N, B in the mesoporous carbon structure can derive excellent ORR activity, for which the FeNB/C-800 catalyst delivers an onset potential of 0.97 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode, RHE), a half-wave potential of 0.81 V (vs. RHE) and a high limiting current density (5.59 mA cm-2), comparable to a commercial Pt/C. The catalyst also shows good methanol tolerance as compared to Pt/C catalyst. This work highlights a bottom-up strategy for creating ternary Fe, N, B sites on carbon nanotubes using boron-containing ionic liquid precursor.