Facile Synthesis of Manganese‐Oxide‐Containing Mesoporous Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon for Efficient Oxygen Reduction

Abstract Developing low‐cost non‐precious metal catalysts for high‐performance oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is highly desirable. Here a facile, in situ template synthesis of a MnO‐containing mesoporous nitrogen‐doped carbon ( m ‐N‐C) nanocomposite and its high electrocatalytic activity for a four‐electron ORR in alkaline solution are reported. The synthesis of the MnO‐ m ‐N‐C nanocomposite involves one‐pot hydrothermal synthesis of Mn 3 O 4 @polyaniline core/shell nanoparticles from a mixture containing aniline, Mn(NO 3 ) 2 , and KMnO 4 , followed by heat treatment to produce N‐doped ultrathin graphitic carbon coated MnO hybrids and partial acid leaching of MnO. The as‐prepared MnO‐ m ‐N‐C composite catalyst exhibits high electrocatalytic activity and dominant four‐electron oxygen reduction pathway in 0.1 M KOH aqueous solution due to the synergetic effect between MnO and m ‐N‐C. The pristine MnO shows little electrocatalytic activity and m ‐N‐C alone exhibits a dominant two‐electron process for ORR. The MnO‐ m ‐N‐C composite catalyst also exhibits superior stability and methanol tolerance to a commercial Pt/C catalyst, making the composite a promising cathode catalyst for alkaline methanol fuel cell applications. The synergetic effect between MnO and N‐doped carbon described provides a new route to design advanced catalysts for energy conversion.