Fabrication of iron-doped cobalt oxide nanocomposite films by electrodeposition and application as electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

In this work, Fe-doped Co3O4 nanofilms were fabricated by electrodeposition on FTO glass substrates for the first time. The structures of the as-prepared nanofilms were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Characterization results demonstrate that Fe was doped homogeneously in the nanofilms. As the different concentration ratios of Fe2+/Co2+ were explored, nanofilm with the ratio of 1:5 exhibits the optimal performance in electrochemical properties assessments. It is considered that the difference in the catalytic activities for the ORR of the samples may be due to the fact that the joining of iron changed the catalyst surface's electric state and enhanced the acidity of cobalt centers, on the other hand, the doping process probably modified the absorption property of the nanofilms. The experimental results suggest that the Fe-doped Co3O4 nanofilms in this work exhibit favorable electrocatalytic activity toward ORR and appear to be promising cathodic electrocatalyst in alkaline fuel cells.