Characterization of Novel Fe-N-C Type Catalyst Synthesized from Sycamore Sawdust

A novel Fe-N-C type non-precious metal catalyst was developed.First,the activated carbon was synthesized from sycamore sawdust and KOH by conventional calcination in N₂ atmosphere;second,the activated carbon powder,with an activation temperature of 800℃,a specific surface area of 2051.8 m²·g^-1,a porosity of 1.23 cm³·g^-1 and co-doped with Fe and N via chemical route,was calcined;and finally the microstructures and catalysis behavior of the new Fe-N-C catalyst was characterized with XRD,EDS,XPS,SEM,and electrochemical workstation.The results show that the newly-developed Fe-N-C catalyst exhibited good oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) activity,at an initial potential of-0.03 V,a half-wave potential of-0.10 V and a limiting current of 4.2 mA/cm².Moreover,the stable Fe-N-C catalyst displayed a strong methanol tolerance.We suggest that the new catalyst be of some technological interest in energy industry.