Facile Synthesis and Evaluation of Nanofibrous Iron–Carbon Based Non-Precious Oxygen Reduction Reaction Catalysts for Li–O2 Battery Applications

Development of low cost active catalysts toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is critical for the effective operation of Li–O2 battery. Porous nonprecious iron–carbon based nanofiber catalysts have been developed by electrospinning method. The catalysts demonstrated similar ORR catalytic activity for ORR as the commercial Pt-based catalysts in the aqueous half-cell voltammetry sweeps. In the Li–O2 aprotic environment, the catalyst exhibited higher on-set potentials when compared to glassy carbon and Pt disk electrodes. The results show that the nonprecious electrospun nanofiber could be an effective low cost ORR catalyst at the cathode for Li–O2 battery.