Co-N heteroatomic interface engineering in peanut Shell-Derived porous carbon for enhanced oxygen reduction reaction

The development of high-efficiency and low-cost oxygen reduction electrocatalysts have become an urgent need to push fuel cells into practical application. Herein, an effective electrocatalyst Co/NC was successfully constructed, which was derived from abundant peanut shells, obtained by doping with cobalt ions and pyrolyzing in NH₃ atmosphere. Due to the abundant Co-N active sites triggered by Co-N heteroatomic interface, the prepared electrocatalysts present excellent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance with more positive half-wave potential (E_1/2 = 0.83 V), incremental limiting current density (J_L = 5.45 mA cm^-2), higher durability and stronger resistance to methanol, which is superior to that of Pt/C (E_1/2 = 0.81 V and J_L = 5.19 mA cm^-2). This work proposes a potential strategy to synthesize efficient ORR electrocatalysts to instead of Pt-based catalysts.