Morphology and Structure Controls of Single-Atom Fe–N–C Catalysts Synthesized Using FePc Powders as the Precursor

Understanding the origin of the high electrocatalytic activity of Fe–N–C electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction is critical but still challenging for developing efficient sustainable nonprecious metal catalysts used in fuel cells. Although there are plenty of papers concerning the morphology on the surface Fe–N–C catalysts, there is very little work discussing how temperature and pressure control the growth of nanoparticles. In our lab, a unique organic vapor deposition technology was developed to investigate the effect of the temperature and pressure on catalysts. The results indicated that synthesized catalysts exhibited three kinds of morphology—nanorods, nanofibers, and nanogranules—corresponding to different synthesis processes. The growth of the crystal is the root cause of the difference in the surface morphology of the catalyst, which can reasonably explain the effect of the temperature and pressure. The oxygen reduction reaction current densities of the different catalysts at potential 0.88 V increased in the following order: FePc (1.04 mA/cm2) < Pt/C catalyst (1.54 mA/cm2) ≈ Fe–N–C-f catalyst (1.64 mA/cm2) < Fe–N–C-g catalyst (2.12 mA/cm2) < Fe–N–C-r catalyst (2.35 mA/cm2). By changing the morphology of the catalyst surface, this study proved that the higher performance of the catalysts can be obtained.