Fe–N–C/Te Nanotube Catalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Alkaline Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

The lower reaction kinetics of oxygen reduction restricts the performance of alkaline anion exchange membrane fuel cells. The Fe–N–C catalyst could form an efficient active site through the coordination of iron atoms and nitrogen, which can significantly improve the adsorption and activation abilities of oxygen molecules. Herein, the tellurium nanotubes (TeNTs) used as support not only establish an efficient electron transport network but also modulate the intrinsic electronic structure of the Fe–N–C catalyst active sites. Therefore, the Fe–N–C/TeNTs catalyst features a half-wave potential of 0.89 V and a kinetic current density of 3.12 mA cm–2 but only 2.6% performance loss after 10,000 cycles. The fuel cell peak power density based on the Fe–N–C/TeNTs catalyst reaches 435 mW cm–2. Moreover, the performance of the fuel cell based on the Fe–N–C/TeNTs catalyst exhibited 7.5% performance loss after 100 h of continuous operation.