Iron addition to Vietnam anthracite coal and its nitrogen doping as a PEFC non-platinum cathode catalyst

► Iron addition to Vietnam anthracite coal as a PEFC non-platinum cathode catalyst. ► Nitrogen doping without iron addition promoted no ORR activity of the Vietnam coal. ► Iron addition from 10 ppm to 0.1 wt% significantly increased ORR activity. ► Nitrogen doping at 1073 K and iron addition significantly increased the micropore area. ► The ORR potential was related to the iron, nitrogen species and SiO2 and Al2O3.