From chicken feather to nitrogen and sulfur co doped large surface bio carbon flocs: an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction
Nitrogen and sulfur co doped bio carbon flocs (NSC) with large BET surface areas and porous structures are obtained via pyrolysis of zinc based metal organic coordination polymer (MOCP Zn) that is synthesized through a hydrothermal reaction between zinc salt and polypeptides derived from chicken feather. The as prepared carbon flocs exhibit a superior performance towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) both in alkaline and acid media. Especially, the as prepared NSC 3.5 can be comparative to Pt/C, exhibiting a promising application in the acidic environment of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell. It is proven that the enhanced ORR activities can be attributed to the high content of pyridinic and graphitic type nitrogen and large surface areas with abundant porous structures. Moreover, the growth mechanism of nitrogen and sulfur co doped bio carbon materials from chicken feather via coordination reaction and biomineralization process is investigated. This study develops a new method to prepare nonmetal doped bio carbon materials from waste biomass with enhanced electrocatalytic performances for ORR.