Abstract
The comparable catalytic activities of non-noble metal electrocatalysts are the prime to enable their breakthrough performances for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In this work, the nitrogen-doped carbon aerogels were strategically functionalized with Ce/Fe elements. The increased content of pyridinic nitrogen from 16.71% to 20.28% coupled with a macro-porous structure resulted in an enhanced ORR catalytic performance. The performance evaluation showed that the ORR onset potential of the functionalized sample shifted from 0.893 V to 0.968 V comparing to the unfunctionalized sample. The open cell voltage reached 1.450 V when the optimal...