Induced growth of Fe-Nx active sites using carbon templates

Introduction of a carbon nanosphere template (CS) into a melamine/Fe-salt mixture resulted in the in situ growth of uniform nanotubes on the skin of the CS. Using this method, we successfully constructed binary FeN-CNT/CS in which the formation of highly dense Fe-Nx active sites is promoted instead of Fe and Fe-carbides in FeN-CNT. Importantly, the intrinsic ORR activities of the Fe-Nx sites were also improved.