Electrospun iron and nitrogen co-containing porous carbon nanofibers as high-efficiency electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction.

One-dimensional carbon nanofibers hold great promise to be potential candidates as high-efficiency electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, the catalysts in powder form always aggregate when preparing catalyst layer, which significantly hinders the extensive application. Herein, we report the facile synthesis of iron and nitrogen co-containing porous carbon nanofibers derived from PAN nanofibers existing as a flexible film via the electrospinning method, which could avoid aggregation when fabricating catalyst layer of fuel cells. The Fe–N/N–C NFs exhibit onset potential of 0.95 V and the half-wave potential of 0.78 V in 0.1 M KOH solution, suggesting superior electro-catalytic activity for ORR. Meantime, for Fe–N/N–C NFs catalyst, it shows a nearly four electron transferring process and the current density only decreases by 14.2% after 40,000 s. This easy and facile method provides a new idea for synthesis of oxygen reduction reaction with high-activity and good-stability. • A facile method of synthesizing iron and nitrogen co-containing nanofibers. • The concentration of the active sites Fe-Nx was increased via an easy method. • The Fe–N/N–C pNFs exhibit outstanding electrocatalytic activity for ORR. • Providing guidance for fabricating high-efficiency Fe–N–C catalysts for ORR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]