A Defect‐rich N, P Co‐doped Carbon Foam as Efficient Electrocatalyst toward Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

Abstract Explore cost‐effective and efficient carbon‐based electrocatalysts toward oxygen reduction reaction is highly desired to replace high‐cost platinum group metal (PGM) catalysts. Herein we synthesized a N, P co‐doped carbon foam by direct blowing of glucose in the presence of phytic acid (blowing catalyst) and urea (self‐sacrificing template). This template‐free one‐step approach achieved high surface heteroatom content of N (5 at.%) and P (2.33 at.%), large surface area (1026 m 2 g −1 ) and high I D /I G ratio. It was found that the edges‐rich activated carbon scaffold as well as the active N‐sites work synthetically to guarantee its efficient ORR performance with the half‐wave potential of 0.84 V RHE . Besides, the well‐balanced porous structure facilitates its practical application as an air cathode in zinc‐air cell, reaching power density of 145 mW cm −2 at the current density of 169 mA cm −2 .