Iron (II) phthalocyanine nanoclusters - Graphene sandwich composite for oxygen reduction reaction catalysts

Publication date: 15 September 2017
Source:Materials & Design, Volume 130
Author(s): Yan Zhang, Haikun Wu, Wen Zhao, Xiaomin Li, Rui Yin, Lei Qian, Yuanyuan Qi, Kaijing Yang
Iron (II) phthalocyanine (FePc) nanoclusters were synthesized by solvent evaporation with poly(diallyldimethlammonium chloride) as a stabilizer. Combining FePc nanoclusters with graphene (GR), the FePc-GR sandwich composite was produced. Morphologies of the resulted FePc-GR composite were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy. It was found that the FePc-GR composite exhibited sandwich structure, and the FePc nanoclusters (~500nm) consisted of small nanoparticles were uniformly distributed between GR sheets. Electrochemical and electrocatalytical properties of the FePc-GR composite were studied by cyclic voltammetry and linear sweep voltammetry methods. Compared with the pure FePc nanoclusters or GR, the FePc-GR composite showed improved electrocatalytical performance towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The electrocatalytical performance of FePc-GR composite was related to the ratio of FePc nanoclusters and GR. It was observed that the FePc-GR composite showed the highest current density when the volume ratio of FePc nanoclusters to GR was 2:1. The electron transfer number of the FePc-GR composite was 4.05, indicating the direct four electron process for the ORR. In addition, the FePc-GR composite also exhibited good stability and excellent resistance to methanol compared with the commercial 20% Pt/C catalyst.

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