Synergistic Effect of Nitrogen Doping and Textural Design on Metal-Free Carbide-Derived Carbon Electrocatalysts for the ORR

The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is critical to energy conversion technologies and requires efficient catalysts for superior performance. Herein, nitrogen-doped carbide-derived carbon (N-CDC) catalysts are prepared using novel engineered molecular architectures based on polymer-derived ceramic technology. The obtained catalyst materials show a surface N concentration of >5 wt % and a hierarchically porous structure, resulting in a specific surface area of over 2000 m2 g-1. Subsequently, the electrocatalytic activity toward the ORR is studied in different media (acid, neutral, and alkaline conditions) using a rotating ring-disk electrode. The N-CDC catalysts demonstrate clear improvements in performance due to nitrogen doping in neutral and acidic media, while textural properties are crucial for the ORR activity in alkaline media. Specifically, a superior onset potential (0.8 V vs RHE) and enhanced kinetics (58 mV dec-1) are achieved in 0.1 M KOH. This work opens new avenues in the field of electrocatalysis, highlighting the potential of N-CDC materials and their significant advantage for the controlled synthesis of hierarchical porous and doped materials.