Nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbons synthesized from honey as metal-free catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

• Nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbons (N-OMCs) were synthesized from honey.
• High electrocatalytic activity toward oxygen reduction at N-OMCs modified electrode.
• Metal-free, CH3OH tolerable and long term stable catalyst in fuel cell application.
• Honey being nitrogen and carbon sources for other metal-free carbon materials.

In this work, nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbons (N-OMCs) were synthesized by a low cost and simple nanocasting method using SBA-15 as a template and honey as a nitrogen and carbon sources. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nitrogen adsorption-desorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that nitrogen was successfully doped into the framework of ordered mesoporous carbon rods. The N-OMCs with high surface area and ordered structure were used as a metal-free catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which exhibited much better electrocatalytic activity, long-term operation stability and high CH3OH tolerance compared to commercial Pt/C catalysts for ORR in alkaline fuel cell. Moreover, the influence of different amounts of nitrogen formed at different carbonization temperatures in N-OMCs on the ORR activity was researched. Honey as a nitrogen and carbon sources may be applied to various carbon materials for the development of other metal-free efficient materials for applications beyond fuel cells.