Dongyoon Shin

Excavated Fe-N-C sites for enhanced electrocatalytic activity in the oxygen reduction reaction.

Platinum (Pt) is the best electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in hydrogen fuel cells, but it is an extremely expensive resource. The successful development of a cost-effective non-Pt ORR electrocatalyst will be a breakthrough for the commercialization of hydrogen-air fuel cells. Ball milling has been used to incorporate metal and nitrogen precursors into micropores of carbon more effectively and in the direct nitrogen-doping of carbon under highly pressurized nitrogen gas in the process of the preparation of non-noble ORR catalysts. In this study, we first utilize ball milling to excavate the ORR active sites embedded in Fe-modified N-doped carbon nanofibers (Fe-N-CNFs) by pulverization. The facile ball-milling process resulted in a significant enhancement in the ORR activity and the selectivity of the Fe-N-CNFs owing to the higher exposure of the metal-based catalytically active sites. The degree of excavation of the Fe-based active sites in the Fe-N-CNFs for the ORR was investigated with cyclic voltammetry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and pore-size distribution analysis. We believe that this simple approach is useful to improve alternative ORR electrocatalysts up to the level necessary for practical applications.

Diagnosis of the measurement inconsistencies of carbon-based electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline media

Finding inexpensive alternative catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is considered as one of the most overriding challenges in the development of electrochemical technologies. Although significant progress has been made in developing carbon-based ORR catalysts, there is difficulty in judging improvements in the catalysts due to the inconsistent results arising from differences in experimental conditions. In this review, we provide a diagnosis of the influence of key factors in the measured ORR activity of catalysts. Knowing the exact conditions when measuring ORR activity is of paramount importance in establishing a reference for relevant comparison of ORR performance in developed catalysts.

Electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction at a FeNi composite on a carbon nanofiber matrix in alkaline media

Non-noble metals such as Fe and Ni have comparable electrocatalytic activity and stability to that of Ir and Ru in an oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this study, we synthesized carbon nanofibers with embedded FeNi composites (FeNi-CNFs) as OER electrocatalysts by a facile route comprising electrospinning and the pyrolysis of a mixture of metal precursors and a polymer solution. FeNi-CNFs demonstrated catalytic activity and stability that were better than that of 20 wt% Ir on Vulcan carbon black in oxidizing water to produce oxygen in an alkaline media. Physicochemical and electrochemical characterization revealed that Fe and Ni had synergistic roles that enhanced OER activity by the uniform formation and widening of pores in the carbon structure, while the CNF matrix also contributed to the increased stability of the catalyst.