Prussian Blue-Carbon Hybrid as a Non-Precious Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Alkaline Medium

•The Prussian blue nanocubes carbon (PBC/C) composite was prepared by an in-situ method.•PBC/C showed about 17 times higher oxygen reduction activity than PB carbon black.•The composite catalyst exhibits excellent activity and selectivity.•The PBC/C can be a potential cathode catalyst for alkaline fuel cells.

We describe a simple approach for the Prussian blue nanocubes dispersed on carbon composite (PBC/C) as a non-precious catalyst for the electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline medium. The interaction between Prussian blue (PB) and the carbon support was confirmed by using FT-IR, and XPS spectroscopy. PBC/C catalyst exhibits 100 mV more positive onset potential than Prussian blue supported on carbon (PB/VXC-72) for ORR. Rotating disk electrode measurements showed that PBC/C had about 17 times higher oxygen reduction mass activity compared to the PB/VXC-72 physical mixture. PBC/C hybrid catalyst exhibited superior durability in aqueous alkaline medium compared with Pt/C and also provided low H2O2 production confirmed by rotating ring-disk electrode measurement. The PBC/C catalyst showed better activity and selectivity, which can be attributed to the synergistic coupling effects between the PB nanocubes and carbon support.

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