An animal liver derived non-precious metal catalyst for oxygen reduction with high activity and stability

Abstract

Currently, nitrogen (N) doped carbon materials, as the most promising non-precious metal catalysts (NPMCs) for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for low temperature fuel cells, have become a research hotspot. However, most of the N sources are derived from expensive organic monomers or ammonia, which are either expensive or harmful to human health. Here we demonstrate a facile and green strategy to synthesize a novel N-self-doped carbon nanoporous material with high surface area using pork liver (PL) both as N and carbon source; the prepared catalyst possesses an outstanding electrocatalytic activity towards ORR, and both superior stability and fuel (methanol and CO) tolerance compared to the conventional Pt/C catalyst. This work supplies a new paradigm for taking advantage of the abundant animal waste resources in energy conversion materials.