Efficient electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction of thermally optimized carbon black supported zeolitic imidazolate framework nanocrystals under low-temperature

Turning commercially available low-cost conducting carbon black materials into functional electrocatalytic electrode media using simple surface chemical modification is a highly attractive approach. This study reports on remarkably enhanced oxygen electrocatalytic activity of commercially available Ketjenblack (KB) by growing a non-precious cobalt metal-based zeolitic-imidazolate framework (ZIF-67) at room temperature in methanol solution followed by a mild thermolysis. The resulting Co@CoO(x) nanoparticle decorated nitrogen-doped KB derived from the optimized ZIF-67 : KB weight ratio of hybrid samples at 500–600 °C shows high performance for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with impressive E(onset) and E(1/2) values of ∼0.90 and ∼0.83 V (vs. RHE), respectively in 0.1 M KOH electrolyte. Such ORR activity is comparable to, or better than many metal@metal-oxide-carbon based electrocatalysts synthesized under elevated carbothermal temperatures and using multicomponent/multistep chemical modification conditions. Therefore, a simple electrocatalyst design reported in this work is an efficient synthesis route that not only utilises earth-abundant carbon black but also comprises scalable room temperature synthesized ZIF-67 following mild thermolysis conditions under 600 °C.