Morphology-Controlled Nitrogen-Containing Polymers as Synthetic Precursors for Electrochemical Oxygen Reduction Fe/N/C Cathode Catalysts

Abstract

Nitrogen-containing aromatic polymers such as polyimide are known for their high thermal stability. While they have been widely used in industry, their relevance to catalysis is still quite limited. In recent years, nitrogen-containing polymers have been explored as precursors of nitrogen-doped carbonaceous materials, which are particularly attractive as non-precious metal catalysts for oxygen reduction in fuel cells. The high thermal stability of nitrogen-containing polymers contributes to an effective control over the morphology of the resulting carbonaceous catalysts. This review article provides an overview of the recent progress on the research and development of Fe/N/C oxygen reduction catalysts prepared from morphology-controlled nitrogen-containing polymers.

Synthesis and Carbonization of Polyimide Nanoparticles Modified with Long Alkyl Chains Aspiring to Non-precious-metal Fuel Cell Catalysts

“…This finding will advance the size control and functionalization of the PI nanoparticles. Further studies will be done by fabricating actual NPM catalysts by the multi-step pyrolysis [15] and demonstrating the catalytic activity for oxygen reduction in PEMFCs.…”

“…In this context, our research group has been interested in morphology-controlled PIs as precursors of carbonaceous materials for nonprecious-metal (NPM) catalysts, which enhances the electrochemical reduction of oxygen to water in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) [15][16][17][18][19]. PI nanoparticles can be converted into catalytically active carbon materials by the pyrolysis at a high temperature in the presence of a small amount of Fe additive.…”