A one-pot method to synthesize high performance multielement co-doped reduced graphene oxide catalysts for oxygen reduction

•A multielement co-doped reduced graphene oxide is prepared by a one-pot method.•The catalyst exhibits excellent ORR performance superior to the Pt/C catalyst.•The catalyst has a high surface area of 437 m2 g− 1.•The co-doping effect of Fe, N and S is well investigated and demonstrated.

A Fe, N and S multielement co-doped reduced graphene oxide (Fe–N–S/rGO) was successfully prepared using a one-pot method by directly pyrolyzing a mixture of graphene oxide (GO), FeCl3, melamine and sulfur in N2 flow, during which deoxidization of GO and multielement co-doping are realized simultaneously. This catalyst shows excellent oxygen reduction activity in an alkaline medium, with an onset potential of 0.95 V (vs. RHE) and a kinetic-limiting current density of 4.78 mA cm− 2 at 0.68 V (vs. RHE), which is superior to that of commercial Pt/C. Furthermore, it exhibits long-term stability, excellent methanol tolerance and high selectivity for the four-electron reduction pathway.